The Bird's Nest

I start this latest entry with a long overdued update and this picture is one that gladdens the artistic soul in me! As a trained fashion/textile designer, seeing little plushies made in, what I call "kitchen table businesses" brings out the more ambitious side to me. These little cuties were created from lovely fleece and beautiful fabrics in both visual and tactile ways. I was so close to buying this ickle french croisant! And the toast bag you can just see under it but i thought i'm too old for such things now.
And the fustrating thing?
I know i can make these myself!
If only i had the time!


These selection of pictures came from my trip to London to primarily visit the movie/anime convention at LondonExcel. There were a range of celebrities there including a....TRANSFORMER!!!
I love love love transformers and Bumble-bee/Goldbug (depending on how 80's you really were!) is one of three favs. (Other being Optimus Prime of course and the all time fav - Hotrod.)
This was the actual car used for the live action films Transformers and as i took this photo they were filming some BBC presenter dressed up as Spock draping himself over the roof of the car...yeah...i know....
the only place i can think of where such things happen....


If you were a die-hard fan of this convention, you'd come all dressed up...and the amount of effort and time going into these costumes is A-M-AZING!
I quickly snapped this one as to be honest there were too many Sepheroths, Clouds, SuperMarios, Power Rangers and waaaaay too many star wars costumes...(i even saw a fat "Simpsons-comic-book-store-guy" dressed as Princess Leia with danish pastries for hair buns...complete with a hair pot belly hanging over the skimpy costume...i actually honest to god, gagged.)
But this guy gone the other way by being the scarily accurate looking pyramid head from Silent Hill me thinks?
Nice one!
1st prize in my books though there were too many to chose from!


One such celebrity was Mr Lister himself!
Ehem!
Craig Charles that is though i fondly remeber him well from Red Dwarf and Robot Wars which i was addicted to and can still remember all the names of the house robots you cheered on!
Check out some of the costumes the public wore!
If i had it my way, i would were the blue lotita dress everyday if i could.
You have to love Japanese fashion!
This convention is massively inspired by Japan and the fact they closed down the eastern side of London to allow all these people to migrate to this convention shows its popularity.



Now, if you are a Final Fantasyfan then you'd know what this is above!
Yes it is a cleaver in its hand....
and why yes!...that is a lantern held aloft there!
A Tonberry!
Another lovely example of some of the costumes here at the convention though im not a massive sucker for games and some of the films that are popular here such as Star Trek though i still somehow know who is dressed up as who!


And this was our highlight of the day!
Linda Hamilton!
Of Terminator fame.
You know... in a dead-pan austrian voice "Are you Sarah Connor?"
I purposely awaited to snap her here with the T-1000 bust in her hand which i thought was a nice nerdy touch.
Its not often one can say they met a hollywood star is it?
I also met Derren Brown in the local Forbidden Planet in Shaftesbury Avenue and let me tell you this...he is shooooooort! real short!
He makes my mother look like the jolly green giant there...not that im saying she's green or has a fondness for corn but still...you get the point.
He walked into me as we were both reaching for a Neil Giaman book and a brief exchange of the mutual, british politeness...
"sorry..."
"That's alright..."
"...here you can have this one..." i hand him the book as he is still too short to reach the top shelf.
He grins and nods...
and makes small talk about the book...
and my fiance was green with envy when he gaped at me, "Is that?!...Is that...?! HIM?!"



Ah yeah, i remeber this rare sunny day...this was 8 in the morning which is hard to believe and we were walking to the main tube station and walked pass this building and i took it, liking the umbrella scuplture in front of the building.
you may have guessed what the building is famous for....
...as i found out when watching the news regarding a report about channel 4 reporters....
...yeah as i should have known if i walked down a few steps more and the random blocks of umbrellas suddenly align themselves into a 4....its the channel 4 centre...
clever isn't it?
though i still think i should have cottoned on a bit quicker than that but my excuse was it was 8 in the morning and i was hungry!




My fiancee nearly missed this joke considering this is one of his fav pictures...its amazing what you see first thing in the morning after the last thing at night.
Someone had taken the time to carry out this jone in a calculated manner with the stealth of a ninja!
They had gone though the trouble of buying black card and cutting out a white comma and turning "The Grey Coat House for Girls" into "The Grey Ho's"!
Brilliant!
Though i do suspect the boy's school next door to the school might have something to do with this...




This was taken around the Shaftesburt Avenue area of London which is famous for its boutque shops and theatre!
I wasnt expecting this sudden burst of colour on the grey streets of the London whic was a nice suprise.
Makes you want to buy a huge bu ch wouldnt it?
I would have done if i lived in London...
...or if my fiancee was feeling alittle romantic...?
Aparently there is a known street on the western side of London which is known for its floristy flowers...a sort of flora fish market at the crack of dawn!
must make plan to visit it one day!
London is a city where i have favourite hotspots i love revisiting but i need to remeber there is plenty to see and do out there.



If i had a cake shop...this would be it.
Complete with the froggy tables and chairs outside which would be a nice touch since i love frogs!
just look at those cakes!
I always make a point of visiting it in...guess....Shaftesbury Ave once again!
I love the colours and the fruity smells that wafts out onto the streets and its neon colours always seem to pull every man, woman and child towards it!
there were queues and ka-chinging of the tills and the chairs were always full which made taking this picture akward as i waited for two asian businesmen to move-out-the-damn-way!
What is with asians and bright colours?!

Still bet you wanna eat here doncha?!



This is one of the lovely shop fronts from...you guessed it....Shaftesbury!
Lovely hint of nostalgia from the pass which is very much in keeping with the overall feeling of the area with its retro clothing stores and more modern burlesque (yes you heard me right!) emporium.



It was also someone's birthday in september!
My fiancee!
Since we dont have much dosh, i thought it would be nice to make a nice meal from scratch for 5 people.

starters was bacon sarnies in honor of the birthday boy!
Then pork with cider and apples sauce with proper apples from my grandad's tree!
then this beauty of a cake!
Flour-less chocolate cake that was sooooo rich and moist and scrummy!







Look at those fresh fruits cuddled in creme fraiche, like little jewels amongst white peaky clouds!


This was the second time i made this cake and it turned out better than i hoped for!
Mega chuffed with this baby!



And no birthday could be complete without a cup cake from Mr Buns!
I knew we were going to have visitors for the birthday boy and especially my granparents so i bought some of these and everyone had one each.
I had the green one in the picture....mint choc chip which was to diiiiiiie for!
And can you guess which one my fiancee had?!
I'll give you a clue, it's smirking at you!
I love this little cake so much i'm thinking of using this iamge for my own hand made birthday cards...