L'amant français

France. The romantic. The trend setting. The People. The Food.

The unbelievable city of Paris was our first stop, getting a first hand taste of the famed gypsies i'd heard countless stories about.

 If any of you have seen the movie 'Taken', where the young girls get approached by a smoking hot Parisian male who offers to share his taxi. That Happened To Us! Of coarse we prommptly did the "no speak French, no speak French" and briskly rolled ourselves away from that situation :) If you've ever had the pleasure of taking a train to Paris Gare Du Nord, you'll know that it doesnt give you the best impression of Paris. However, what was to come was exactly what I wished for...

One highlight from Paris was seeing Queen Latifah strolling down the luxury shopping street, with who I assume was her assistant. What I noticed first is that she waddles, and it wasnt until she walked past did we realize that it was indeed THE Queen Latifah! crazy.

After Paris we headed down to Chateau Chambord, with its amazing spiral staircases.

And then the festive Carcossonne, where just right across the road was a music festival featuring big artist like Moby, Jack Johnson, Vanilla Ice. Ha..did you get my joke!? :) hilarious.

Upward and onward. Definitely one my favorite places of my trip was Nice. Beautiful beaches. Beautiful food and flower markets. Rich, glamorous people with rich, exuberant cars. Nice/Monte Carlo is definitely a place I would recommend for anyone travelling down to the south. First night saw us seeing the beautiful glowing statues, and street performers., and row of restaurants, with such good selection it was hard to pick just one.

Day 2 saw us walking about to the lookout, which overlooked Nice and the beautiful harbor of Monaco. I can honestly say in all my travels I have never seen such a beautiful sight as all the super yachts parked in a open harbour on a clear blue sea. Magical! The afternoon offered a great chance to taste French fine dining, on a travelers budget of coarse :) However, the real luxery was spending the night in the Monte Carlo Casino. Pathetically though, I spent only 1 chip, worth the same amount my lunch cost:) However, being able to be surrounded by Ferrari's and Bugatti's and Maserati's was an unforgettable experience; something little ol' New Zealand doesn't usually offer up:)

Overall, France was unforgettable, and these photos are just a handful of the hundreds I managed to squeeze on my memory card. Next up, the smallest country in the world Andorra, and then the magnificent Barcelona

Au Revoir!

Travel Bug..the beginning

Post the February 22nd Christchurch earthquake , and the many thousand that followed, I thought to myself "why stay here in the land of the shaky when I could travel a continent that supposedly is immune to huge earthquakes?".
So..
Off to Europe I went:)

3 weeks in England - including vintage Burberry shopping, Harry Potter red carpets, and University scoping.

While I definitely recommend searching through the roof-high-vintage-clothing-shops in Portobello market for great bargains on the luxury brands, nothing quite beats spending one night and two days camping on a Freedom Fatboy Ten Camping Chair, wrapped up in a 9pounds and 99 cent sleeping bag from Primark, topped off with a 5pound see-through poncho to protect us from the torrential that decided to grace us with its presence in the middle of the English summer. The reason? being less that a meter away from nearly all the Harry Potter stars at the World Premier World carpet. Best. Two. Days. Ever!

Next...Nice, via Paris, Bordeaux, Carcassonne, and the BEAUtiful Barcelona...

p.s. email if you want more close up pictures of the stars. My favorites were definitely Rupert Grint, and Matthew Lewis :D

Similarities: Twilight vs Red Riding Hood

 1. They’re both directed by Catherine Hardwicke. 

2. Werewolf as the bad guy, who later steals your heart.

3. Lines like “One bite… and you’ll be like me.” "Are you scared?". If you see twilight, its hard to not notice the deja vu feeling in the script. Interestingly, two different people wrote the screenplay. So why the striking similarities?

4. Identical dads. Obviously. They're both played by actor Billy Burke. 

5. Gloomy, woodsy town. Twilight is set in the rainy Washington State of Forks. RRH is set in the woods, where we presume is in the middle of a wolf populated area. 

6. Brooding, Sexy boys. Shiloh Fernandez and Max Irons vs Rob Pattinson and Taylor Lautner. Add on that in both cases, the boy that gives her up because he loves her so much, are English in real life (Rob, and Max). Add in also that Shiloh was in the running for the role of Edward Cullen but obviously lost to Rob P.

7. Love triangle. Valerie’s heart is torn between loyal Henry and dangerous Peter both of whom are prone to making woozy declarations of their love. 

8. Cloak chic. 

9. The danger-stud behind the innocent damsel shot.

10. Soundtrack. Both movies are scored with pulsing, hurts-so-good emo music. Brian Rietzell wrote the score for Red Riding hood, whereas Carter Burwell scored Twilight :)

I am by no means a hater on either of these movies, especially NOT a hater of the leading men in each film:) but I thought it fun to compile a list, as you usually don't get the sense when your watching a newly released film that you've seen it before.

Have I missed any you picked up?

Au Revoir 

An Insiders Guide to Careers in Fashion

 the Teen Vogue Handbook: An Insider's Guise to Careers in Fashion is my latest investment. There comes a time in ones life when you think to yourself "what do I want to be. Like actually, what could I see myself doing for the rest of life", and for me its been photography or fashion editorial/journalism for the last couple of years. Not just a phase, as my mother would say. 

The following is from the book, a quote from famed fashion photographer Patrick Demarchelier, who has worked for Vogue and Vanity Fair, Diana Princess of Wales to Britney Spears, and on campaigns for Dior, Chanel, L'Oreal, and Louis Vuitton.

"Take Pictures all the time.

Dont worry if you take a bad photograph; 

you learn more by taking a bad picture than a good one.

If you don't like it,

study it and figure out why you don't like it.

You'll learn from your mistake"

I plan to use that advice Mr Demarchelier on my upcoming trip to Europe :)

Au Revoir

Adventures in Queenstown

To escape the rockin & rollin of Christchurch, my lovely friend Sighle and I road-tripped it down to Queenstown. Six hours of driving, and an entire playlist of childhood hit music later..we finally arrived to The Adventure Capital of the World...

For every activity seen in this video I have included links for them at the end, just in case you were travelling to Queenstown and wanted an adrenalin rush:)

Au Revoir

Marc Jacobs Iphone Cases

The master that is Marc Jacobs has gifted his time to aid my growing obsession with online shopping for Iphone cases. Thanks Mr Jacobs:)

These two little beauties came in today. One Black. One White. 

"The form fitting construction helps your phone look its best.

Sleek.

Stylish and Oh-So-Scratch-Free.

The Marc by Marc Jacobs custom styling shows the world you know how to let loose, even when your playing it safe" 

 

Au Revoir :)

O.P.I Shattered

During these times of unrest I aided the economy by doing a bit of internet shopping, and since the post started up again today my first of many purchases has arrived!

Behold....O.P.I 'Shattered' (paired with O.P.I 'Gargantuan Green Grape' in this picture)

Au Revoir :)

Chirstchurch Earthquake

For those followers who don't know me, I am born and bred in the beautiful city of Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand. 

On Tuesday 22nd of February at 12.51 I was sitting in a concrete car park about to go to yet another movie, when a 6.3 earthquake hit the city. With other cars in the car park getting violently jiggled as if they were toys, and bits of concrete roof falling on my windscreen, it was the second time where I have wondered "is this it. am i going to die in a concrete car park, alone?" The first time being when the first earthquake hit on September the 4th 2010. While I was fortunate to get out without a scratch, to date 149 people have lost their lives from mother natures movements. From what I've seen throughout the city, I cant explain how surreal it is for my city to look like a third world country that you see on the television during a war or something similar. Its scary, and a feeling I now wish upon no-one, anywhere, anytime, in any situation. 

Here a just a few of the pictures that I managed to capture while out rubber-necking/ rescuing my mums car from the center city. 

 Shop facades fallen

 used to be a two story house...

 rubble

 queues for gas because of no power  

 all roads are like this..

 big gaping holes

 some with cars in the them..

 roads are reduced to wavy concrete

 silt holes

 shops I used to frequent in high school

 Quinns, chemist

 TV crews

 just fallen onto the road

 Grand Chancellor in the background is on a slope

        about to collapse

 roads about to sink into the river

 a huge army presence

 all the churches in the city

 merivale shops again

kia kaha NZ