28 Oct 2011

alice temperley for filofax

If you're really into fashion like I am, you may know about designer collaborations with high street stores such as Sonia Rykiel for H&M, Lanvin for H&M, Kate Moss for Topshop, etc. However, this time, there is a very exciting one on the radar... Alice Temperley for Filofax!

This is all very exciting and I just hope that it will be within my budget as I would love, love, love to get my hands on one of these! Apparently, according to this article, it will be on show during AW12 which is a hell of a long time to wait (cue sad face) but I'm hoping it will be worth it!
I have to say, I'm more excited for this than Versace for H&M! What about you? Does this collab take your fancy?

24 Oct 2011

what's in my bag #7

Sooo... I was in Westfield White City last week and with some money in hand with my 21st birthday coming up, I splashed out. I'd be coveting a Prada bag for quite some time and when I walked into Miu Miu and saw a bag in exactly the same style but a few hundred bob cheaper, I knew this bag was the one. After all, Miu Miu is part of Prada anyway so it wasn't like there is much difference!

Here is the bag the bag came in - isn't it lovely?



And here is the bag itself:



And finally, what's in my bag:



In my bag are: headphones (as I also bring my Macbook Pro to college), pencil case and pens and pencils, a Cafe Nero card that is fully stamped - ready for me to claim my free coffee as I'll need it after a hard day of studying!, mentos, Panadol, Paul and Joe Sister lipstick, pocket mirror, bottle of water, Kleenex tissues, Strepsils, Caramel wafers and an Alpen bar.

So, this is what's in my bag at the moment - what's in yours?

13 Oct 2011

my finchley family

This post is about my Finchley family :-)

First picture - family portrait. All that's missing are the Pocket and Mini sizes but for me, I think they will be too small to do anything with. At the back is the A5 Vintage Rose, then at the front from left to right is the Personal Vintage Rose, Personal Jade Green and the Personal Teal.



Next is a shot of how they look stacked up together. I love my Filofaxes stuffed to the brim but looks like I failed with the A5 - maybe due to a lack of inserts? Looks like I'll be stocking up at the November Philofaxy meet up :-)



Finally, the sides of the binders. I think this picture really captures the quality of the leather well. The leather is soft and supple and gets softer with use and that's why I love the Finchley range so much. The only Filofax I own which is of a different model is the Personal Raspberry Finsbury but I find the fact that it doesn't lie flat a bit annoying.



Please excuse my Carlsberg jug in the background - I use that to hold water in as I don't drink alcohol! It's much more convenient to have water in my room than have to walk to the kitchen to get water when I want it.

10 Oct 2011

my classic items

Here are a list of my 'classic' items I could not live without. These are things to do with fashion, life and study and some may be a bit generic but maybe that is what makes a classic in the first place, right?

Anyway, here is the first one. This one is in the fashion category.

My Aquascutum Fleet mac.



I got it in the House of Fraser sale at 70% off the RRP and I have to say, I love it! It goes with anything and is a classic item. I do think they are better than Burberry trenches as these are less 'chavtastic' due to all the fake Burberry caps and whatnot that 'chavs' wear. (For those that don't know, 'chav' actually stands for 'council housed and violent' and was actually used first by the police in the UK but in time, people have taken it as another word for yobs.)

My second item is in the life category and is, of course, to do with organisation.



Since reverting back to my Filofax, I really appreciated how much fun organisation can be! And with Filofaxes being 'big' back in the 80s within the 'yuppie' culture, it can be deemed a classic as that was before I was even born!

My third item is 'study' and although I haven't had this item for long, I am in love with it already! It's my new Macbook Pro!



I bought it instore in the Regent Street store in London and I'm so glad I did for the experience of taking it home and setting it up myself, etc. The Macbook Pro is included as it is a classic - it is something that is important for the computer industry and that is why it is here in my post.

What are your classic items? Is it a bag? Or a car? Your house if you feel it is full of character? Or is it something that reminds you of something good?

7 Oct 2011

a new setup

Since returning to my Vintage Rose Personal Finchley, I have had to set it up again in a way that would work for my lifestyle. And this post is all about my new set up.

1) Opening it up, I am greeted with this: a tube map and photos of my mum and dad with me when I was a baby (to remind me of hard times when we had to scrimp and save on everything). There is also a picture of a duck my sister drew.



2) My 'Today' ruler - it has two sticky notes on it, one of which is for planning my 30 day wardrobe challenge with only ten articles of clothing and the other has my '30 Day Clothing List' which currently only has one item on the list.



3) Here, you can see that I have checklists for each day. These should lessen when term starts as I will have to start using 'To Do' pages instead of writing daily checklists in the required space for each day.



4) The next picture is a week view. You can see I underline important times in red pen and you can also see the piping I added to separate the weekdays from the weekends and also the 'This Week' section from the the weekdays on the left.



5) These are note pages that came with the German 2011 and 2012 diaries.



6) In my notes section, I have tabs labelled as follows: 'General' (actually just a 'Notes' cotton cream separator), a tab for the hall I'm living in next year as a hall senior so I can plan events and also write packing lists and my university wardrobe inventory, etc. These two sections come before the diary and then after, there are more notes. The next tab is the 'Information' tab which houses my UCAS stuff - for my graduate medicine application and the last tab is the 'Blog' tab where I write down blog post ideas I may get whilst on the tube or just randomly. It is also where I plan new blog layouts if I have a sudden impulse to change the design.



7) Finally, this is the business card holder which holds sticky note tabs and also other random bits. I'm considering getting rid of this business card holder though because I can house these note tabs on the card holders which are part of the binder.



So this is how it is now set up :) Obviously it may change from time to time but that's the beauty of Filofax(es). You can change them every day if you wanted, thanks to the rings but that would be a bit excessive!

1 Oct 2011

september { can't live withouts }

This is a start of a new series of posts :-) Every month, I'll be posting the things I couldn't live without and why. Here is this month's (September 2011) with a commentary below the image.



From top left to bottom right:

Muji 0.5mm Gel Pens / /  essential for the exam prep I was doing! The amount of writing I had to do was crazy - practice papers, practising essay writing and planning under tight timed conditions - it was crazy to say the least and I have no idea how many pens I went through!

Sweet snacks / / for the times went I couldn't think and nothing was working! Jelly beans are good for an instant sugar boost and mentos are good (but only occassionally of course as we all know what the consumption of too many mints can result in...!) for the times where I needed to wake up a little. I normally feel sleepy between 2pm and 3pm so the occassional Mento was beneficial for that reason.

Arwey notebook / / to plan blog posts in! The pen loop and pen is very, very useful. The notebook is also small (but not too small) and light enough for me to carry around in my handbag.

Nail polish / / The ones on the left and right were freebies from magazines and the one in the middle is 'Peach Melba' by Barry M. I love painting my nails girly colours and the pink ones match my Vintage Rose Finchley which is always a bonus :-)

Comfy flats / /  for those long days on my hospital work experience where I may have to walk a bit. Also for the days where I go shopping or days where I know a lot of walking is involved. These Clarks shoes are perfect for that and they actually look quite cute too! These shoes completely changed my opinion of Clarks and I now think that they also cater for the young as well as the old.

Andoku Android App / / ideal for those moments where you're bored for some reason or other. I also do one every morning when I wake up to try and get my brain into gear. To top it off, the app is free!

No Filofax this month as I was using a Moleskine in the first two weeks and only changed to a Filofax in the third week. Maybe next month though when I'll be up to my neck in helping freshers' settle into uni and also new academic year admin.

What were your September essentials?

Stay tuned for October's essentials towards the end of the month :-)