Wedding bells!!

Just did a shoot in Emma's bedroom as I wanted to put the wedding dress I made on ebay. Camille modelled and really did the dress justice although at fourteen it is scary how she embodies the perfect bride with such ease, THEY GROW UP SO FAST!!

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300521139987

Bright lights big city!

 Friday night and I was London bound for sister bonding time. Kept things low key the first night except going to get a curry from her local Indian ON A BIKE!! Now this may sound like no big deal but take one person who hasn't ridden for years, add the fact that they were never much good anyway and then throw them on a bike two sizes to big in Central London - hair raising indeed but really exhilarating (especially once I returned back to her apartment alive). The next day we took a two hour bus ride down to The Lanes in Brighton for the Saturday, wandering the flea markets and vintage shops. Brighton is indeed the most culture rich UK seaside town I have ever visited and we relived our youth on Brighton Pier, enjoying a heart stopping ride on the waltzes.

In the evening my sister, some friends and I all went to eat at their local Vietnamese which was indeed a new experience, delicious and most suitable for my new part veggie lifestyle. Next we visited a fabulously dingy coffee house for some pre dancing caffeine and then off to the 100 club. Northern soulites from all over London had gathered for a nights hardcore dancing and as my little gang and I crept out onto the dance floor we felt like we were intrepid travellers trying to be liked by the super cool in-crowd. Much practise and dedication is required for this to happen so we left feeling inspired to come again with some polished moves and attire. It remains one of the few purist scenes in the UK and the music and atmosphere charged with energy and spirit.

The whole weekend was a fabulous treat and I returned home with new inspriation for this weeks projects. However I was glad to reunited with the family on my return to White House, Sunday evening. There's no place like home and no matter how mad your darlings drive you, you miss them like mad when their not with you!

Lou Reed is a god!!

What is the best cure for PMT? Chocolate is good, I agree but loosing yourself to a really good album is better I think. Poor Quin (my three year old boy) has a cold and is feeling under the weather too but has allowed me the luxury of enjoying some Lou Reed while I sew and he draws fire engines. Which album? BERLIN!! Written after the applauded Transformer, Lou went such a different direction that it was very poorly received initially by both press and fans alike. He refused to perform it live from that point and it was only last year when decided to revive it and take the album on a small worldwide tour. I was lucky enough to see him at one of his two Uk gigs and it was defiantly the best gig I've experienced in my time on earth. He relives the crazy time he had in Berlin and his experiences there, highly recommended! Kat x

Northern Soul count down!

I am counting the hours until Saturday night when my sister Annika and I travel to Oxford Street in the West End to take part in a Northern Soul All-nighter. If you have never heard of the scene its no wonder as its one of the most sacred uncommercial, underground scenes currently in the UK. Northern Soul is a music and dance movement that emerged from the British mod scene, initially in northern England in the late 1960s at the now notorious Wigan Casino. The music mainly consists of a particular style of black soul music based on the heavy beat and fast tempo of the mid-1960s Tamala Motown sound. The northern soul movement, however, generally eschews Motown or Motown-influenced music that has met with significant mainstream success. Anyway, the dancing is equally important and I have been practising like a trooper where possible although the days when the spits came easily were back in Primary School, ouch! You require a slippy floor and even slippier shoes (non of which I have utilized, double ouch). I have been taking instruction from this guy below courtesy of YouTube. If you fancy it yourself this is the place to be: http://www.6ts.info/allnighters.asp Yours dancing while blogging, Kat x



Poor Alpha Male!!

We would value your opinion!

Last night was spent talking rubbish over some G and T's until Katryoshka came up with an exciting  idea amongst all the babble. The story starts with our visit last Sunday to our favorite psychic Linda Lancashire. One thing she told me was that someone was going to ask me to make a wedding dress. This had always been an ambition so this conversation prompted this weeks project, see photo below. As a result weddings became a theme in white House this week and last night Emma and I were wondering if we could create a fabulous gypsy style wedding venue.We have an area opposite the house which currently houses our four vintage caravans, all elaborately painted and ready to host guests. They could accommodate about 10 guests overnight and then we could cater for and host 50 or so guests for the big day. Would anyone enjoy such an experience? Whilst being mostly an outdoor venue we could provide shelter against the sometimes compromising English weather and arrange live entertainment performing from the huge farm trailer Emma salvaged last year. Could this work? It would be an incredibly intimate experience, an antidote to the huge formal marquee affair and a lot cheaper too!! If anyone has opinion on such an idea we would love to hear from you...!! Kat x

 

The Tarotvan has a busy night!!

Just returned from an evening of spiritual enlightenment, the Tarotvan being a spectacle to behold once again. Many thanks to all the lovely ladies who came to experience a glimpse into 2011, hope you all enjoyed yourselves. Hope to see you all again sometime - The Tarotvan will be at our next studio gathering on February 5th, Kat x http://thetarotvan.co.uk/