going

crossword puzzle fields

june 24 } i arrived at the ampersand hotel. this was the view from my room 320

i couldn’t get a standard-sized room because the hotel was fully booked. this room was tiny, but look at my view. tiny room or not, i’m definitely going back

for all the firemen out there: this twinkle light pole. i didn’t stay long in my room as i had to run back out to visit the dennis severs house in spitalfields. after that i went over to anna dora’s for a good session of girlfriend catch-up

anna dora, anna dora! let me in!

june 25 } i went on my first (too) successful shopping spree thursday morning. this is now my favorite shoe store ever: irregular choice. the spectrum of shoes ranged from sophisticated quirky to inter-galactic zany. of course my preference was the former, and i ended up buying three pairs of shoes. and this lead to a chain reaction of future mishaps and minor panic attacks

for the wedding

followed by a solid lunch with my high school friend dagher

later on i met my dear friend naz and we walked over to the serpentine pavilion, this year created by the spanish design team selgascano

naz, me and plastic

naz took a photo of me…

…taking this photo (my photos were crap this trip because i had forgotten my main phone in the car and luckily brought my old one, which i was using as a case for my UK sim card)

girls surrounded by plastic

heart the shoes, naz

girl, a suited boy, and plastic

to be surrounded by nature and…plastic

afterwards we took the tube to fitzrovia for a couple of gallery openings. at kashya hildebrande i met anna and her island-inspired headdress

two of my favorite people in this shot by naz. in the foreground is hc berg’s visual vortex

bubble gum formations, a demarcation and two poppies

we crossed the street to crash caroll/fletcher’s justin hibbs opening

poppies and a line

shoe convos

huddled beer bottles

as we walked around town looking for a shisha place to cap the night, we walked past cavendish square

june 26 } friday morning i walked to king’s road for a trip to-where else-green & stone’s stationers. i then went to waterstone’s to get my nephew bird bingo, a follow-up to bug bingo which i brought him last trip. can anyone say lord howe island stick?

later on i had lunch with anna at polpo on beak street. let me tell you about a dream i had the night before: i dreamt that i was eating a small, crunchy octopus (it was inside a bag of chips, that’s how small), and with every bite i realized how gross it actually was to be eating this raw (and perhaps even live) octopus. when i sat down to eat with anna, i looked up at a picture on the wall and it was a drawing of an octopus. What a coincidence, i said, because last night i had dreamt about an octopus. so she goes: well, that’s what ‘polpo’ means, octopus. that’s the first a dream of mine to ever come true. we ate happily and then i took her to my favorite shoe store ever

unicorn

or elvis head heals?

anna shoes, ghadah shoes

after saying goodbye to anna i met up with the bride-to-be. we bought rice and cake for the wedding and afterwards had a nice quiet dinner before going up to her room for a chat. i took this photo because i can’t resist a mirror-ceilinged elevator

i’m so glad sarah was in the lift with me. otherwise i’d have had to seek assistance

june 27 } wedding day. here, old friends and new on the steps of the chelsea old town hall. from left to right: razan, sarah, matt (the groom), wassan in the back and waleed gumaa, who was kind enough to allow me to use this and the next photo

the girls (and honorary girl waleed gumaa)

on the bus from the ceremony, which took place in the chelsea old town hall. my new friend razan, laila and me

sobers and his pink turban. sobers is a childhood school colleague, but now we’re friends

the newlyweds. sarah gives one of many toasts that evening. the food was great and the company better

sarah and me. look how elegant she looks

new friends alice, aled and…

beautiful alawiya. i had such a fantastic day catching up with friends and making new ones. this is how weddings should be

june 28 } after checking out at one, i met piyush for lunch (can’t believe i didn’t take a photo!). we caught up and then he dropped me off to the tube station. around three i caught the train to leatherhead. here, a few travel buddies i had in my bag

i always miss this little one. this is how roxie spends her afternoons these days

i’m always inspired when i visit my brother’s family home. more on this in another post

eve is dropped off on the pantiles’ lawn by a silver beauty

june 29 } i woke up to this sky. this was my last day in the uk before leaving that night. we ended up going back to london where we watched the girls compete at their ‘swimming gala’. later i had lunch with n and finally a lovely drink with ‘tall & kiwi’ vincent before heading back to victoria station. i can’t wait to go back, this time more than ever

coming