Thursday 11 June 2009

Tonight I said no

Tonight I said no to going out for a drink
No to an evening of making small talk when I craved small silences
No to letting another evening drift by without writing
or giving myself space to think, or breathe.

Instead I said yes to a night to myself
Yes to a run along the seafront with the wind whipping away a stale day
Yes to the rough sea and the kite surfers playing with the elements
Yes to turning up my music loud and dancing
Yes to turning off the TV and thinking
Yes to an hour of writing, and feeling myself again. 

Sunday 7 June 2009

Summer threads


Summer has truly arrived. I unpacked some of my summer dresses and hung them outside to air, which led me to thinking about the stories these pieces of fabric hold. These days I don't buy too many clothes. As much as I love clothes, I try and buy second hand or buy less and make sure they last me. I like the thrill of buying something new as much as any girl, but I also love like pulling 'old' clothes out of storage too. It's like meeting up with old friends you haven't seen for a while. The green silk dress reminds me of a lovely day in Kensington, of hot summer weddings and drinking pimms barefoot on the grass, and a visit to Lucca in Tuscany last summer. The blue dress started its life off as bright pink, bought for a birthday party which didn't quite work, and niether did the colour of the dress. It lay ignored and unloved in my wardrobe until I tried dying it blue, which gave it a new lease of life. It reminds me of sweltering week at the Avignon theatre festival in the south of France, and a night of dancing, drinking and hilarity, one of those nights that cements certain friendships and that you talk about years later.

The blue bird skirt I picked up on a holiday to San Francisco a few years ago, my first time in America and probably my best holiday ever. One day I wandered off by myself to the Mission district and found this in a thrift store. I would love to know who wore it before me. Its twin sister is worn by one of my favourite bloggers too. The red dress is a vintage Marks and Spencers dress, bought as present on a rainy day in Suffolk last year at the end of the summer. Its first outing is yet to come. I wonder what memories it will hold by the end of the summer?

What are your favourite summer clothes?