My (non) creative space.

This is my desk at work.


Do you think percy the owl, 4 different pot plants, a growing stash of pink accessories; lip gloss, hand cream and banana's might make me look a little..... Unprofessional? Hmm?

Introducing iHannah...

I. Am. Modern.

I said those words very earnestly to my mister the other week. He laughed. Hard. But for my standards its true.

I've always been a bit wary of 'technology' and all its new fandangledness. I've had the same phone for three years, and, if it hadn't broken, I would still have the phone I got when I first went to uni.

I reserved a special place of hatred specifically for Apple worshipers . Because, apparently, not only are they changing the whole way that people work and communicate, they are also changing the world and eradicating world poverty! Pah. Apple is not Gods gift to man!!! (I grumbled indignantly)

But then I went and married a nerd. Not only a general nerd, an APPLE nerd. An Apple nerd who bought me a 'refurbished' mac (recycled and cheaper- he knows me well) last Christmas.

At first I was wary of its possibilities, of its throbbing lights and factoid filled glossy whiteness, but slowly, very slowly, I built a relationship of sorts with it. And slowly, as much as I hate to admit it, we became friends. It led to this blog and basically ended up changing my life... Shhhh, dont tell Apple I said that!

Just like drugs, it led to other things. And so I find myself hours away from holding my very first iPhone. Here's why:

It will cost me no more than my current contract, and I sought the advice of the money saving god that is Martin Lewis who told me how to get it cheaper. So I did (got cashback and everything!) I also never owned an Ipod or MP3 (don't laugh) so I'm excited that it will also hold my music and that I can also download audio books!!! Oh but there is more. Soooo much more...

As you have probably guessed there is an OCD mentalist nestled somewhere deep inside an outer, messy me. I LOVE LISTS. Even if I don't actually do what they tell me to. The iPhone is to list Nazi's what candy is to to a fat kid. There are special shopping lists, budgeting tools, birthday reminders, calorie counters and synced up calendars. And I am a list nazi!!!

But I think these gorgeous wallpapers alone would be enough of a reason to buy an iphone. They are from the from lust worthy website Poolga that ive been ogling for a while...

(Clouds by Jamie Oliver Asp…)

(Alakazam by The Wizard's Hat)

(Burger Soda by Always With Hono…)

(Irina Mirnova by Ricardo Cavolo)
All images Poolga

And if you've ever found yourself stumbling round town trying to find a decent pub, club or post office/bank there are 2 brilliant apps for that too.



On Urban spoon you can choose restaurants around you from tons of options like a slot machine.

and Around me shows you... whats around you (surprisingly)

The thing that really stirred my cuppa though was this beauty. Do you remember watching Clueless and desperately lusting after Cher's virtual wardrobe which picks out outfits for her? And, like me, do you also have a major "call-in-reinforcements" fashion crisis every morning? Introducing My style fashion assistant! Possibly the most exciting app in the world ever. EVER.

You take pics of all your clothes (which excites me greatly, I'm not sure why) and then log it and then you can scroll across shoes, top half and bottom half and choose outfits! Oh wow!

Equally exciting is this app from style.com. It includes complete coverage of every major collection which can be searched by name. So you can click on favourite designers and then see their clothes like this!!!

Oh mercy! YES PLEASE APPLE!!!! Me Me Me!!! Ahem...

Chanel apparently has its own app too.

OK, one last one. Do you like Daft Punk as much as me? I have spent many a happy hour dancing to them sweatily in clubs and students unions and festivals and I long to see them live. Until I do I can bop away to this. They have released the coolest, coolest app. Look!

You click once and the background beat comes up, and then you add the words by hitting the above buttons! So you can feel really cool on the train to work in the morning and pretend your a DJ like Daft Punk!!!

Anyway, dahlings, I've got to dash because I have some more blogging to do on the Internet, and I also need to check my social networks on my iPhone and then go on Netvibes and Flickr, Google Reader, Digit and Delicious.

BECAUSE I AM MODERN WOMAN! Hear My Roar!

P.S I lied a little bit! I have no idea what Netvibes, Digit and Delicious are, but they seem to appear of every website, so I thought it would sound cool. Sorry.

P.P.S do you have any app recommendations?

Treehugger Tuesdays Ethical, AFFORDABLE Fashion and a girl crush...

(Update: Readers, I got all excited and smug about being super duper organised and posting treehugger Tuesdays BEFORE I left the house this morning (this really was quite a feat) but with hindsight writing a blog post in a slightly hung-over and really groggy state was a pretty dumb idea …. I know its annoying when people edit their posts after publishing (especially for subscribers) but meh. It doesn’t matter how many times I proof read my posts, I only ever see mistakes after publishing!!! Im sorry ok? I glare at MYSELF accusingly. I’ll improve.

So I forgot to tell you about this really great resource for ethical fashion. The Guardian have written a pretty comprehensive directory of ethical fashion brands along with loads more info about ethical shopping. So If you want to look further down the supply chain or just want some more ethical fashion porn, click here and have a good browse,

Anyway, back to the original slightly edited, sorry! post...)

Ethical shopping can be a bit of an oxymoron when you think of it. Its really really hard. And expensive. Really, the whole thing would be much easier if shops only used fairtrade cotton (some do but not enough). But until they do we'll have to just find ways of buying stuff that is beautiful, affordable and doesnt require the use of child slaves.

One great way around the expense of organic fairly traded goods is the sales! Right now, my lovelies, you can get a brilliant ethicalicious bargain! Just look at these lovelies!

This dress is by shop ruche. Isn't it just lovely?

I have also developed a bit of a massive girl crush on their model. Like seriously, look at that ginger fringe!

Moving swiftly on from my lesbionic girl crushes....

I also spied these shoes in the sale by Adili this week. I love them. And the heel is not too high too!

They also have this gorgeous dress... ALSO IN THE SALE!

Both items by adili, a brilliant website with lovely stuff.

If that wasn't enough, behold the people tree sale. I cant usually afford peopletree clothes but the sales open up a whole new ethical and totally stylish opportunity. Oh yes.

Both dresses by peopletree! Quick! Click click click!!!!! These are purchases that you simply wont feel guilty about afterwards! (think of the people making them kay?! You practically have a duty!) And there are some uber bargains in there too.

Go on, grab yourself an ethicalicious (mouth- full?) bargain!!!

Adieu!

xxxxxx

Fairytales and twisted Disney

Monday. Tick.
Tired. Tick
Rainy day. Tick.

Feeling the effects of a cheap sports bra worn running yesterday. Tick. (sorry, had to tell ya)
Generally rubbish and rainy July. Tick.

Bit of childish fantastical loveliness? Yes please.

(Image JPG)

Do you like these photo's as much as me? I really really love them. I love a good modern version of a good ol fashioned fairytale. Especially if it has a bit of a dark twist (mwah ha ha...)

The above series is called 'Fallen Princesses' by Dina Goldstein.

Dina says:

"These works place Fairy Tale characters in modern day scenarios. In all of the images the Princess is placed in an environment that articulates her conflict. The '...happily ever after' is replaced with a realistic outcome and addresses current issues."

This whole project is really incredible, click on the link and read more, go on.

I also saw Stella McCartneys new ad campaign today. Is it not rad? I love Stella and I love Bambi. Yes.

(Image: catwalk queen)

And did you recently see Annie Leibowitz shoot where she made celebs into fairytale characters? I did, although I reckon that these are not as cool as council estate Snow White. Sorry Annie! Your pictures are still pretty though!

Rachel Weisz by Annie Leibovitz

(Image Notcot)

I hope that you, dear readers, can find something to make your Monday bearable. Or even great! Fairy tales or twisted Disney or a good latte or something. Because you deserve it! (I just know it!)

See ya!

lamb poodle

What would you get if you cross bred a lamb with a poodle and spiked its dog food with top class speed?

THIS!!!

Collections...

Some more OCD art porn for a sunny saturday morning....

By Katie Kirk via Swissmiss

The Pink project by Portia Munsen. Via Little Yellow Bird

Mmmmmmmm

My wedding....

About 5 years ago I graduated from Missdom to Mrsdom. And this is just a snippet of how we did it. Well. I promised didnt I? I chose to show you mostly polaroids. Just because they're cooler.


We were young, ridiculously, maybe even naively in love, with no money. It was low key, handmade and included feathers, sandals and a barbecue. It was specially special because of our friends and family who pitched in for every SINGLE part of the day. Literally every part. We simply couldn't have done it without them.

The invites... Designed by us, screen printed on to fabric by a friends company, then sewn by me and my mister on to pieces of card. The envelopes were made from the folded pages of recycled bridal magazines.

The church... We gave guests lolly's as they entered the church, to keep them occupied as they waited for me to (finally!) arrive.

Flowers being a little out of our budget, I turned to fabric and literally filled the church with colourful fabric and ribbon. My friends and I ripped thousands of strips from a a lot of different fabrics then tied each piece to long sections. These ribbon garlands wreathed the church entrance, adorned the isles and covered the wedding car too. It was very easy, very cheap and involved no sewing. Three big sanity saving ticks.

My sister with a lolly

The entrance to the church

Ribbon garlands lining the isle

...and lining the gate to the church grounds

We wrote our own vows and the service was officiated by my father in law. 

The dress... The weddings only extravagance. It is a Georgio Armani ready to wear dress from the Spring/summer 2005 collection. Worn with colourful floral jewelry and flat pink sequined sandals.

The flowers.... Clouds of gypsofilia. Tied with lots of colourful ribbon. Arranged by one of my lovely aunties.




The boys corsages... Made by a friend using feathers. (You can just see it poking from the bottom of the polaroid below!) My mister wore a vintage 70's suit which was a bargain from Afflecks Palace in Manchester. His shirt was a pink floral number from Paul and Joe.

The car....We borrowed a friends off road land rover. Covered in yet more fabric!

We stopped half way through our drive home to take some photo's in the Moors. 

The reception venue....My family home, which was just such a privilege.  We were incredibly lucky to have good weather. It was grey and a little over cast in the morning but as guests arrived at our home the sunshine forced its way from the clouds and shined brilliantly all day.

Guests in the garden...

Food being taken off the brabeque

(mmmm pimms!)

The food...A Barbecue in old barrels cooked by some family friends . The meat was from a local organic butcher whom we have frequented for years. The grilled meat and vegetables were served with my dads (amazing) home made salads and fresh bread. He was up at 5am on the morning of the wedding chopping vegetables and getting everything together!

 (I look a little frightened here, but that expression is actually excitment!)

Pudding included big jars of our favourite sweets and jewellery stands filled with strawberry's.
It also included cake, lots of cake,  from my favourite local patisserie. We couldn't’ afford a tiered wedding cake but we bought a selection of their ‘celebration cakes’ instead. Just as beautiful. Just as tasty. And a fraction of the cost. yum. Oh and cheese piled up to look like a wedding cake.

The reception decoration...Jam jars jam jars jam jars. Collected by all my loved ones for months leading up to the wedding. They filled the garden with candle light in the evening. Each of the jars had (yep- you guessed it!) fabric strips wrapped around the top of them. Our reception also heavily featured bunting. My bridesmaids and I made what semed like hundreds and hundreds of meters of bunting which covered the gazebo's and wrapped around the circular lawn. My step mum also cultivated roses especially too.

My ribbon wrapped flowers next to our jam jars.

A friend putting the bunting up

The entertainment...A local jazz band who has performed at a few of our family functions welcomed guests to the reception, and our talented friends and family performed for guests throughout the evening a la open mic. This included both of our Dads playing guitar for us and my friends from school forming a band with my friends from London! Quite moving at times, and such brilliant fun too.

My photographer friend captured much of the day, but we also sent a group of friends around the wedding armed with polaroids.  I have to give a big thank you to Ray, my misters sister and head bridesmaid, as she took many of my most favourite wedding polaroids. She has a real knack for brilliant polaroids.  I am thankful she was there (for so many reasons)

The day was amazing. We loved that there was evidence of our friends and family in the very fabric of the wedding; in the table runners, in the car, in the flowers, the venue, the food... It is their presence in the details, as evidence of their of their love for us, that stands out most of all. It is still the part of our wedding I love the most, still the part that brings a lump to my throat 5 years later.

Oh, and I got a pretty decent Husband too. Mmm hmm.


Update:

Thanks to Buhdoop for featuring our wedding.

And thanks to Oncewed too- oh wow! Kinda surreal but really exciting!