Office in Bed

Today, I get to send emails and prepare for fashion week in my underwear. Oh yes, this is what working from home looks like. A cup of warm chocolate tea, my gadgets, and a view of the city.

Chocolate Tea

The name sounds enticing, I know. But, I was a little bit hesitant when my flatmate's bff brought over bags of Teapigs chocolate flake tea. I was thinking, there has to be a catch to such delicousness. I figured it probably wouldn't taste very good at all... but I was surprised. After a couple of days of staring at it in its designated bowl, I decided to brew a cup.

When I first took it out of the baggie, I thought the scent was a bit overbearing. I dipped the teabag into my hot cup of water and waited three minutes for it to brew. After taking the bag out, I added just a touch of skim milk and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar. When I breathed in the mixture, it was heavenly. Much better than the initial scent of the bag. The tea has a very smooth texture and tastes incredible. It's made up of black tea, chocolate chips, cocoa beans, and natural flavoring, and it tastes exactly as that—black tea with a hint of chocolate. Delicious, and only one calorie per cup! It doesn't give you the same satisfaction as eating a piece of chocolate, but the calories make up for it (unless you're like me and you add a cupcake to your teatime)!

I saved a cupcake from the Seasalt party

Seasalt hosts a cute party on a ship

My coworkers and I were invited to a Cornish themed celebration on a moored ship near London Bridge. Seasalt, a clothing company from Cornwall, were hosting the party in celebration of their new partnership with John Lewis. Seasalt's new collection for Spring 2012 will be available at the retailer in five stores, including Oxford Street and online. The range was inspired by the artists and potters of St. Ives, which reflects the town's heritage. Seasalt generally appeals to women age 30 and up with an active lifestyle, but I found a couple of cute, snuggly knit sweaters I wouldn't mind hanging in my closet.

It started snowing, ironically, shortly after we arrived, but we still had a lot of fun. The party featured a setup of the new collection, and a very talented Cornish band, singing classic tunes. We were welcomed with cider from Cornwall, Cornish pasties, and goodie bags. Plus, they had sailor themed cupcakes!

The band

The snow made it a bit hazy

My goodies!

Valentine’s Day in the Bedroom

I bought a cute, slightly sexy bra and panty set from La Senza. The lingerie store is having a massive sale since they're being bought out. I got both for £15! This is what I'll be wearing for Valentine's Day:

If you want to spoil your guy with your sexiness, here's some high-class inspiration:

ASOS Corset, ASOS Satin Body, Agent Provocateur Lingerie 

Fashion Street Graffiti

Fashion Street is just a few blocks away from my flat. I wish I could live there so my address could have "fashion" in it! I wandered around taking pictures of the incredible graffiti, admiring the ivory curtains above a store front, knowing they must belong to a girl's adorable flat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Front Row at London College of Fashion Catwalk Show

Beatrice Newman

Such a great night last night! I went to the MA Fashion Design Technology catwalk show at the gorgeous Victoria and Albert Museum. Since it was our first invitation-only fashion event, my coworker and I were eager to push through the crowd at the registration table. When we finally got up to the front, we realized that even though our names were on the list, we weren't registered as press! The lady handed us a card with a drawn-on triangle and let us know they were seating in sections, so we had to stand in a little area behind the desk. Umm... at this point we couldn't tell if we were at all considered important or not. We looked around and saw people with numbers instead of shapes on their little cards, plus an extra yellow card. After talking to a fellow writer who held the two different pieces of paper, we discovered her night was going to include much better seats than us and an after party. Ugh. Wonderful. After being shoved through the doors, we learned our triangles meant we'd be standing behind the seated people. But, I ran into one of my friends who was working at the event!! Amazing! She said, "Oh, don't worry about a seat, I'll find you two." She grabbed us and took us to the front row. We had a fantastic view of some very dramatic pieces. The show started out with dark suits splashed with bright bursts of color. Throughout the show, there was beautifully beaded, sexy pieces, structured dresses with protruding leather cages, simple, classic flows of fabric, glittering dresses, Gothic hooded menswear, and blood-stained plaids.

Charlotte Simpson

Tina Elisabeth Reiter (Menswear Award Winner)

Arena Page

Ming Pin Tien (My fave!)

Ming Pin Tien

Tsz Fung Kwok

Byung Mun Seo

The show lasted a couple of hours, and afterwards, my friend was also able to get us wristbands to the after party! She's incredible. We braved the cold and walked over to the venue, and they didn't even check wristbands at the door. We were greeted with a glass of wine and various flavors of vodka to choose from. The party was more of a dinner party, really, with tables of delicious food... not the craziness we expected. But, still fantastic nonetheless.

@ home

My Version of Afternoon Tea... More like Brunch

I made these yummy open-faced sandwiches on English muffins (or just 'muffins' in the UK)! Free range eggs and organic spinach, sprinkled with medium cheddar cheese and topped with mild salsa.