now it's getting interesting

Maybe it's because we had such a cold rainy spell, but here in London it feels like we've finally burst thru - as have the flowers. With a vengeance. These shots are from last week, when it was still cold enough that we had to struggle creatively to peel away the layers without catching a cold (I failed, obviously).



These sweet girls from Turkey, I feel, got it just right. I did posed shots as well but I like this random one when they didn't know why I was shooting them. This week, we've reached enough warmth that everyone is looking fabulous.

Going back to the Serpentine now, cupcakes, so if you're there and you see me (Breton top, Ray Bans, brown hair, Canon round my neck) come up & say hello: you, too, could be Dotted.

flawless

'Chase the dream, not the competition.'

- Flawless, to Simon Cowell, Britain's Got Talent

It's a glorious weekend here in London. Before I even upload the new STUFF I've shot, there are still so many to catch up on from the last blogger's cupcake thing. For example, Simon Smith, from Flawless.



We were rushing thru a crowd and I saw Simon. Had no idea who he was, just liked his look and asked to shoot him. When I asked who made his cardigan he started showing us how it wraps, said his friend made it. Jen and I were just snapping away. He was such a delight and a great sport, posing for us with all these women surrounding him.



This was all happening so fast: Jen gave him one her cards (aren't they great?) and I forget, one of us asked what he did and I thought he said he was a doctor. Jen asked for who and he said something and she started screaming. Well, not screaming exactly.. yeah, kind of high pitched screaming (mind you, it was a crowded scene: Friday end of work pub West End madness, so no one blinked). I didn't understand any of it, but later she said, you know, FLAWLESS. That dance band from Britain's Got Talent.

If there's anyone there besides me who doesn't know these guys, or even if you do: this is their audition tape. And since I couldn't decide which shots to use, and because I can't embed it as a video, this is the best way I could think of to show you Simon dancing. And I'm going to email Simon and tell him I"m posting this and ask him who his friend is, and what else he is wearing, because I just think he's got that special something. He is so dotted.




Does anyone remember: did I dream it, or did there used to be an American commercial where this soap opera actor said 'I'm not a doctor, but I play one on TV'? I remember my dad saying that expression. Anyway, I keep saying that phrase lately and cracking myself up.

big yellow taxi

A chance comment by the lovely Lucy, of Snippets of Shiny Thoughts, reminded me that today is Sketchbook's Pop Up Shop's last day. I had somehow felt I had time to go back (I've been a few times, but I still wanted.. more). And I feel really really sad that I won't be seeing it again.



Of course, I can, and will, still post about it afterwards, but the purpose of posting is to spread the word, so that people in London can POP ON OVER. Granted, I was home sick all week, but still.. it was there, I had time to see it, and now, because we've got plans today, I'll never ever ever again be able to pop by the first ever Sketchbook Pop Up Shop. I squandered my time, and now, by tomorrow, it will be gone.

It's like the lines to that Joni Mitchell song from the 70s: 'Don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got til it's gone? They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.' I know you don't care about seeing old songs before you were born, but since everything else from the 70s is back, including jumpsuits AND clogs.. and I wanted to embed a good version of Joni Mitchell singing Big Yellow Taxi but every time I go to youtube, my system crashes. I've lost so much time, and we'll be late if I don't post this.



Anyway, what are you doing on this beautiful day, sitting around mooning and playing old music on youtube? Or me, for that matter. It's a beautiful day! If you're in London, don't go crying to me that you wish you could have gone to Sketchbook but you had work blah blah blah: step away from the screen and go see for yourself.


If you're somewhere else in the world, my wish for you today is that you are PRESENT. It maybe be outdoors enjoying spring if you're in the northern hemisphere, or autumn if you're in the southern. You might have reason to be indoors. You might be visiting someone you cherish who is in hospital. But wherever you are, whatever you are doing, this moment won't last forever. Tomorrow, it will be gone. I hope today will be, for every one of you, paradise. Not a parking lot.

UPDATE: both Jen & Kit (Style Slicker) just informed me, they're open til mid May!! Yay! Now I can go on with my plans - which involve park & sunshine - without guilt. This was a guilt post. Sorry. But I still mean it about being present. And I still love that song, Big Yellow Taxi: can't stop singing it!! xox