thus far

1. Brooklyn Bridge. 2. Prospect Park. 3. Outside our Couchsurfing abode on South 9th Street.
4. We got invited to some random's Mexican themed party in Philly. It was OK. 5. Most of our time in Philly was spent on this front step with Gabe and co. 6. Greyhound blues. 19 hours spent on the road and in 5 different stations means lots of time to contemplate the meaning of life and lots of sugary vending machine snacks to sample.

checking in

The time has come to check back in with the blog. (Boo, I'm missing it so much) Joanna and I are currently in Philly and relishing the heat and sunshine which has perfectly coincided with our stay. I hadn't been sure of what to expect from this city, but (and the weather helps) everyone seems so laid back, riding bikes around and hanging out in Ritten House Park. We wandered down to the Museum of Art yesterday, and gritted our teeth while paying the price for admission to the Picasso exhibition. Worth every penny (or cent) though and if anyone is passing through I highly recommend it (it's on until April 25th). Today we'll take a stroll through the old city and ask the Amish people at the market if we can add them on Facebook. (I kid, I kid..)

Thank you so much to everybody for the recommendations for the different US cities, I'm sure they'll be invaluable! Unsurprisingly our route is being edited along the way so next stop is Charleston, SC though we'll stop by DC in the evening and wrestle White House security to the floor in order to have supper with Michelle and O. I'll get some photographs of everything up as soon as I can!

No 6 clogs

Gold clogs: tell me that doesn't work for you.

No 6 New York have a flawless Spring/Summer line of clogs and sandals. From modest wooden sandals to stacked clog heels in olive green, pink suede and Wizard of Oz Red.

Go forth, gawp and swoon!
View the No 6 lookbook here

cats out of the bag

A little cloud of guilt has been hanging over me. And when I say little, I mean little because it's sort of an inverted cloud. A cloud completely silver lined (coloured in with the stuff) and simply lined with a little guilty dark edging, if you will.

The source of this supposed guilt is that I have failed to properly tell all of you about my traveling plans. I've uttered murmurs over the past year and a half about my plans to explore the USA in my gap year and after months and months of saving the time has finally come to pack up and be off. Along with my friend Joanna (you may have seen her craftily smoking out of the window and preparing our meals in the Paris photos further down..) I'll be spending just under 7 weeks on the other side of the pond.

We're going to be using Couchsurfing.org (which has raised eyebrows and vague concerned of chopped up bodies amongst many people when I've told them) as a way of meeting lots of interesting people in various cities who will kindly host us for free and with luck be game to interesting conversations. It's also a great way of penniless younguns like ourselves to experience more. The whole ethos of the site is really interesting and such a refreshing concept, a kind of back to basics community approach which (while of course having your head screwed on and applying common sense) champions actually having some faith in strangers.

I digress..this is what our itinery is like so far..

Arriving in New York on Monday and spending just under two weeks there.
Moving onto Philadelphia
Annapolis
Washington DC
Charleston, SC,
Savannah, GA
Down through Florida to Miami
and long trek back to the Deep South
Atlanta, GA
through Alabama
to Tennessee
and through Mississippi onto New Orleans
a move towards California (via god knows where. Texas somewhere..)
San Diego
LA
Coachella Festival
and a final stay in San Fransisco before flying back to London.

It's ambitious for 7 weeks but hopefully doable and please, please do leave suggestions if you have any recommendations or must see places. Our general attitude favours meeting a variety of people and getting a real feel for places rather than just sticking to hotfooting it between various tourist spots. Think lots of exploring, photograph taking and culinary experiences punctuated with long journeys on the Greyhound and much time getting through the thick piles of American Literature we're taking with us (I'll be studying American Studies at Manchester University come September-I've just accepted my place! And Joanna is ridiculously smart and well read so it's a neccessity for us both.)

As far as the blog goes, I'll be visiting an internet cafe once a week anyway purely to keep up with my finances and shoot my Mum 'hey, I'm alive' emails and intend to chart my progress here while I do. I've also prepared some posts which will automatically post because I am super, super cool.

Packing for 7 weeks is so bloody tricky, I've settled on taking about three outfits as I'm dreaming of the prospect of cheapy thrift stores to make the most of. (On that note, if any of you have dirt cheap thrift store references, please spill, I promise I won't tell anyone..)

I shall leave this novella of a post here for now. I leave on Monday but will post tomorrow before the adventure begins. The prospect of being in limited touch with the internet is embarrassingly scary, I'm relying on all of you to keep my abreast with the goings on of the fashion world! Do feel free to fill my comments box with random references and new trends as they surface. 'ladies facial hair', random blog address, that kind of thing. Also depending on the price of using internet from my phone abroad I'll be tweeting along the way.

Phew, that's your update. Would be really lovely to meet some of you along the way if we're passing your hometown and you're legit and fancy a cuppa and a chat about anything from Chloe Sevigny to Sue Sylvester or Mad Men to Modern day Feminism?

good things in twos

image via vanessa jackman

lovely shirtdress, lovely song (never tire of a bit of Best Coast)

and may I doff my hat to the clever souls behind the unofficial Best Coast videos on Youtube, so artfully paired with clips of 60s races, french films and dance sequences. Worth a look.

seventies throwback

chocolate browns, fedoras, suede, short suits, a flash of mustard, trouser width, boyish jumpsuits.. thank you Salvatore Ferragamo for bringing some of my AW10 dreams to fruition.

dans paris

I didn't delve any further into that trip I took to Paris at the end of January, did I? I think I'll show you the snaps then.

Upon my arrival Joanna had prepared a lovely pasta dinner.
Afterwards I unpacked my map of the United States and we finalised some destinations for our trip.

The flat, owned by Joanna's family was typically Parisian in that slightly outdated yet cosy and full of interesting trinkets and crockery kind of way.

Jim Morrisson's grave.

Our eveningly ritual.

View from the flat window. You can't see it here but the peak of Sacre Coeur was also visible.

The famous Galerie des Glaces at Versailles.

It was beautifully sunny when we arrived.

But it turned bleak as we explored the grounds and The Hameau de la Reine

we met some french guys at a bar in the latin quarter and they wrote naughty phrases in my guidebook.

view from the pompidou

Joanna at the vintage store 'Come on Eileen' which we found to be most overpriced and disappointing.

atop the arc de triomphe.

joanna having a sneaky cig out the window.

monday style

the four steps:
generic striped men's shirt + high waist topshop jeans + desert boots and my new little topshop mac.