sunday is for markets.

so basically i'm ready to move to london. ideally i would split my time between london and italy.

okay, i know you're probably thinking that i've gone a little nuts considering this is three posts in 24 hours which is more than i've written in the past three months, but it's kind of lonely here without any peeps. and i want to tell you all about it and document everything while it's still fresh. fyi, this is the entrance to spitalfields market, in which one can find a dr. martens shop. i resisted but enjoyed a peek for old times' sake.



today i slept until 10:00 and felt terribly guilty, but i made up for it by going a little bananas again with my overzealous "get it done, get it ALL done" attitude yet again. despite not being able to move many of my body parts with any ease, i set out in high spirits, iced latte in hand, towards some of the sunday markets, including spitalfields, backyard and sunday up. there was a light breeze, and i thought,"great, it won't be as bad as yesterday." hahahahaha. funny how walking through markets serving piping hot food creates an endless stream of sweat. um, yeah. i hit up spitalfields first, where i got some treats for some ladies i know. and i went in this amazing store called elemental. they restore vintage furniture and goods, like this little bike, from ca. 1900:


and this crazy awesome paris sign:


and unbelievable metal cabinets like this one:


everything had been restored, so it was in amazing condition. also, nothing was priced, so that should tell you a lot about how well anything would have fit into my budget. but it was a super cool space and the goods were phenomenal. and then, there was this:


that's right, take-away prosecco for under $6. i was so tempted and in love with the idea of strolling through the market with a glass of prosecco. but it just felt a little bit wrong without a pal with whom to share the fun of take-away prosecco. (traveling alone is both empowering and frustrating, and it can be very sad sometimes, or maybe a better word is bittersweet.)

in general the markets were sensory overload. some amazing things and some very disappointing things (i.e. tons of stolen imagery/ideas). most overwhelmed by all the food at the markets, from every corner of the world and smelling delicious. if i were braver and less overheated, it would have been fun to sample lots of little plates. after the markets i set out for labour and wait, a store i have wanted to visit since the beginning of time. it was much tinier than i expected, and if i lived here, i would have snagged all sorts of goodies. nearby i came across luna & curious, which had lovely jewels and ceramics. i loved seeing people carrying huge bunches of beautiful flowers, wrapped perfectly in brown paper with blooms poking out of the top. nearby was caravan, which i also knew i needed to see. lo and behold, look what i found:


it's screech owl! wowser! this is caravan's storefront:


while taking this photo i ran into an electrical fusebox thing mounted on the side of a building. i am awesome. i admit, after this, i got seriously lost and was hungry and tired and ANNOYED. then i came across this show/market called 'save our souls,' which turned out to be the camberwell college of arts ba exhibition. it was pretty snazzy, but i was still lost. finally, and i do mean finally, i made it to the liverpool street station and headed towards covent garden. and there, friends, there one can find the orla kiely flagship store:


the store was so beautiful, with customized wood floors emblazoned with the stem design. custom furniture and fixtures -- so, so lovely. and while i know i should have used my envirosax, how do you turn this down?


i visited the cath kidston store in covent garden, but it was absolutely swamped beyond belief. i decided to try to anthropologie before everything closed down at 6:00. and thus began a little adventure of its own. it began when i took the tube to piccadilly circus and then walked in a gigantic circle, with feet that were already rubbed raw despite my ergonomic euro-shoes. and then when i stopped for an iced latte, i was told that the coffee shop was out of ice (!?!?!?!) but that with cold milk it was essentially the same. this might have been true if they were mixing refrigerated espresso with cold milk, but it was hot espresso with cold milk. not the best coffee i've ever had...finally, there it was, one of london's two anthropologie stores. it was three stories, and a living plant wall rose up through all three:






oh, and this is for suzannah:


okay, i'm clearly running out of steam on this blogging business. so tired, and tomorrow won't be nearly as free form as today. i'm off to windsor castle, where i'll be doing what i came here for, looking at drawings. the drawings i'm excited about, the nerves i am not. but finally, i stopped to take a (blurry) photo of this subway ad for the british museum exhibition. didn't think i'd ever see a verrocchio drawing blown up and hanging in a subway. love it. (although it's interesting he doesn't get name credit in the big list!)


with that, friends, i am out. xoxo.