Inside my suitcase

I'm going on holiday! And I'm very excited.

I wasn't planning on going away this year, but when my good friends invited me to Italy with them I looked outside at the rain and booked some last minute flights. I leave tomorrow.

After a long year of university work and campaigning, a few days spent doing absolutely nothing will be a delicious luxury, like eating pudding for breakfast.

I am craving warmth and Italian food (juicy flat peaches that ooze when you bit into them, salty proscuitto and plump tomatoes, ICE CREAM...), and the company of my dear friends.

I spent today packing. I am trying to pack light - I want the refreshing feeling of disappearing with as little baggage as possible (physical and otherwise).

Here's what's going in my suitcase...

Red bikini

I love this cherry red bikini because it's simple and flattering and makes me feel like I should be dancing around in a Special K advert. In a really good way.

I bought it in M&S, not somewhere I was expecting to find sexy swimwear, but I was so impressed on a recent visit there that I was tempted to buy the whole holiday department. Their things are well made and substantial enough for curves, unlike the versions I saw in Topshop that looked as though they were made from dental floss.

I also have a green swimming costume from Marks and Sparks that I love to bits.

Pink bikini

I couldn't resist this bikini from Victoria's Secret, emblazoned with the title of my book, and mismatch flamingo bottoms. Flamingos are my favourite.

Shoes! (And passport)

Holiday reading...

And holiday writing...

My current perfume, that smells like a flowershop.

Lovely L.K Bennett shoes, nabbed for £40 in a discount outlet in Shepton Mallet near my Dorset home.

And PANTS, of course.

 

Have a good week. Ciao! 

Back to Blogging

I'm sorry I've been a bad blogger. Here's a smile. (Me at a recent BBQ competition. Which I WON)

Yes it's been a long time since I blogged.

Things have been pretty busy in Libbyland recently, what with turning 21 (it was hard work. It took me several days to recover) and finishing my university degree (I got a First!! Have a look at my showreel here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yf2PukrMthc) and campaigning hard for fairer, paid internships. I've done some writing for the Guardian and have been tweeting away (most recently at Tesco Customer Care, after a horrible experience made me angry to the value of a £10 'good will' gift voucher that is now on its way to me.)

Have a look at my shiny updated website, www.libbypage.info, to see what I've been up to.

Despite all the exciting serious things going on in my life at the moment, I think it's time to get some pink and sunshine back into it too. I am of the strong opinion that a woman can love both campaigning and cupcakes, and that you can be a strident feminist and still love to bake and rock a pair of killer red wedges (my latest purchase).

So on this blog I am going to try and celebrate the sunny side of life (as well as probably sharing the occasional rant, because that's just me).

"And if you couldn't be loved, the next best thing was to be let alone." L.M Montgomery

L.M Montgomery said that the next best thing to being loved was to be let alone. I must admit I can understand where she was coming from. You can do what you like, when you like, and no one is going to tell you that it's inappropriate to eat cake for breakfast. (Yes, I ate cake for breakfast this morning.)

I am lucky enough to be loved (here's us, having just won an international BBQ competition representing France in honour of my best friend Juliette. We baked a cake on the BBQ). But one of my favourite things to do is still to spend time by myself in cafés eating cake, or in bookshops strolling through the aisles and tucking up in a corner like a cat. I think the best combination in life is to be loved, whether by a partner, family, friends, your pet poodle or all of the above, but to still enjoy time spent happily alone.

One of my favourite lovely lonely London spots is Woolfson & Tay in Southwark, a delicious independent bookshop with equally delicious cake served in the adjoining café. This slice was raspberry, rose and pistachio and tasted as good as it looked.

This week I received feedback from my final university project (a film about unpaid internships) and found out that I've got a First in my degree.

Unfortunately my friends were all busy that evening, but that wasn't going to stop me from celebrating.
 
I headed to the Southbank, where I spent my evening enjoying the late sunshine. Children were playing in the fountains and the sound of laughter and chatter made me smile.

I stumbled across live music at the Southbank Centre (one of my favourite spots in London), spent well over an hour in Foyle's, bought two books (Franny and Zooey, J.D Salinger and The Pursuit of Love, Nancy Mitford) and bought dinner from the food stalls outside the Southbank Centre.

Then I headed back to my flat and watched the sun setting like melting pastels out my window, glass of wine in hand.




All in all it was a pretty perfect evening.


You don't have to be lonely when you're alone (and you don't have to be alone to be lonely).

Libby