bye bye chapel

It is a gorgeous, COLD, clear autumn day in Stanton St John. I just cleared a giant pile of leaves from the Chapel's front steps, in anticipation of the movers coming later this week.

The sparse tree branches out there are a good metaphor for what the Chapel looks like indoors - pretty sparse! Pictures are off the walls, bookshelves are empty, and all we have to show for three years of life in the UK is in four big boxes.

Maybe it's fitting then, that I finally show you all (those of you who haven't already seen these on FB) what the Chapel looked like at the height of summer - voila! a much overdue house tour, here on the front lawn!

Downstairs: Living, kitchen, entry and a little loo

Upstairs: one lovely big master suite with bathroom and dressing area (and my "office" of course). I'll miss coming to work here every day!

  

   

it's not the seaside, but...

My permanent life in England ends in exactly two weeks tomorrow and I'm making good progress on my to-do list—I cooked up a powerful rogan josh on Tuesday, I'm nearly finished the third of my four books, I've shot 1.5 rolls of film, tromped in the Cotswalds and visited some new London spots.

Tomorrow I'm spending the night with friends in London, after which I plan to cross items 1 (one last west end show) and 6 (Cath Kidston goodies) off my list.

So that leaves evensong at New College (Sunday!), the Ashmolean (maybe Wednesay when the Queen will be there!) and finally, a visit to the sea.

That last item will, sadly, remain uncrossed off, but with good reason - rather than chilling by the Atlantic, I'll be chilling (well, freezing probably) by the Danube! Dean and I just booked a weekend in Budapest with our awesome friends Chris and Heather. yippee!!!

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Moving sale update: the iPod dock has sold, and the Eames chair is off the market. We didn't really want to sell it anyway. The Habitat bench is still up for grabs at a reduced rate of £65. Any takers?

big top wedding

The photos from this NYC wedding made my morning. I sorta laughed my way through the entire slideshow, wishing I had seen this spectacle for myself!

[via Jeremy&Kathleen]

the seafarers

The Seafarers - Sea of Love from Eighty Four Films on Vimeo.

via we love you so

for sale!

If you live in Oxford, or even southern England, the following may interest you:

We're selling stuff!

Click on the listed items to learn more.

• Habitat oak Radius bench
• Eames eiffel dsr chair
• Philips micro hi-fi (iPod, CD, USB, bluetooth etc)

email me at thefrontlawn@gmail.com if you're interested.

2 down (8 to go) - Exmouth Market & IWM

A Swedish housewarming brought me to London this past week, and since I was making the trip anyway, I decided to make a day of it and cross another item off my leaving-England-to-do list: explore a new London neighbourhood.

I had three sites in mind, actually, and a view to take my time and see whatever I may along the way.

First, inspired by this photo and a recent interest in pie, I took myself to Exmouth market, near Angel. In the end I passed on the pie and instead grabbed myself a bagel, a cappuccino and a window seat at Brill - notably one of the best London coffee shops I've found (cosy, friendly, perfectly priced, delicious coffee and great tunes played at that magic volume for getting a spot of work done and brilliant eastend people-watching when you need a distraction). In addition to good coffee, Exmouth had some amazing stationery, gift and book shops: all the makings of a great London find in my books.

From there I ventured south of the Thames to the Imperial War Museum. This visit was partially inspired by some WWII posters I recently spotted in a mag, and my own research for an article that will be coming out here next week. This museum actually blew me away. There was so much more than I expected: a floor dedicated to the Holocaust, an exhibit on children in the war, the Blitz, spies in both wars and some incredible machinery. Not surprisingly, I actually spent the most time mooning over WWII and Cold War design and debating whether or not I have room for one more poster in my luggage.

I made one last stop on my way back to Baker Street, at Borough Market - one of my favourite corners of London - to pick up a housewarming gift and an overpriced cuppa from Monmouth. ah, bliss.

Now, admittedly, I'm a bit behind on my to-do list, but I have been doing plenty of other fun things in the meantime:

+queueing to see New Moon with all the pre-teens on Saturday night
+eating curbside falafels and chips
+meeting with sweet American friends for coffee
+having two lovely Londoners in Oxford for a day of clean air and hot drinks
+planning one last euro adventure before we leave (stay tuned!)