wish list

(Before I start: I'm two away from having 500 followers. Help! Does anyone know how to figure out who is the 500th follower? I'd love to give them a little Christmas thank you gift, but can't figure out where to track that. Any suggestions?)

For weeks now, I've seen so many lovely 'wish lists', and I feel I've not been pulling my weight for doing one myself. Well, I'm still not. Because while I love the creativity of the designers & brands & all the lovely fashion & non-fashion stuff I've been seeing around me: I don't really want anything. I mean, I'd love this Catherine Walker sequin bow dress.. but I got a great one at Topshop for about £20, which I'll wear on New Year's Eve and perhaps to another party or two..



I mean, reflecting on this past year, so much great stuff has happened in the world: we're turning in such a good, healing direction - and while people debate was Copenhagen a success or a failure.. hey, it's a start, guys! We're all talking! We're all on the same page (more or less).



We're all against global warming (apart from Mr. Dot, who feels it would be great for Britain: great for the tourist industry). Most of us want 'world peace' - enough so that it's cool again. The economy WILL turn around, because the economy is always tied in to people's expectations, and the world is just feeling more optimistic lately.

So I'm gonna take a leaf from my friend Jodi's book, and make my wish list this year about things I want to DO.

I wanted a tree, and we didn't buy one, but right outside our door, someone had left a tree in a pot with roots that they thought was dead, which we are nursing back to life and will soon be decorating. So that's one wish come true.



I want to go home to Florida (my family's winter home) and hopefully we will in January. I want to see films & go to museums & swim & so far, yesterday, we've seen Avatar, which I suggest everyone put on their wish list this Christmas. In fact, inspired by the luminescent colours, I'm giving you this photo of a tree I found on the street (on the same day as the budding tree and the bee, in fact) & leave you with a little gift, for free: my favourite all time Christmas carol:




Peace on earth, good will towards men. And girly girls.

uncurious george

Seconds after stalking the Girl in Pink, I saw George, in pale grey (which in my own Dot universe, is the opposite on the colour wheel to ballet pink). Being a bloke, he was umbrella-less. (Speaking of which: I saw a college forum recently where someone asked they should bring an umbrella to the UK for a semester abroad. My tip: don't bother. It's a waste of valuable luggage space, and you won't really use it, as the rain is more often a fine mist that will seep into places that an umbrella can't stop. Better a hood, scarf, or snood, frankly).



Anyway, George patiently posed for a few snaps, but really: it was raining, digital cameras don't do well in water, and polite as he was, it clearly wasn't his thing. I didn't even offer my card, just told him my blog name, to which he politely said thanks. (Another rule of thumb: the more posh a guy is here, the more polite. And also, the more seemingly uninterested in fashion they are. Seemingly being the operative word). That's what I like about his style: it is so subtle as to appear non-existent. He's no girly girl, our George!

pink is for girls

Last Saturday, Leah did a post called 'are you a girly girl?' and I've been musing on the subject ever since. Being a girl - and, I'd like to think, a girl's girl (which is another thing altogether), I've thought about this before. Going by her definition, I'm not. If being a girly girl means being high maintenance: that is so not me.



And yet, in terms of style.. I do love pale pink, the colour of this girl's coat, as long as it's clean lines, like the ballet pink of Audrey Hepburn or Jackie Kennedy. I don't do frills. But uh-oh, in this shot, if you look closely: those are pink hearts on her tights. She is wearing a pale pink umbrella with a pale pink coat with a pink fur collar. That's a lot of pink for a grown up woman. No, that's not me.



What about you? Are you a girly girl? There's been a lot of talk lately about 'what's your style', and we're meant to have a sound bite that sums us up. Someone recently called my style 'edgy yet adorable': I could live with that. I'd like to think I'm Jackie, or Audrey, but the truth is, I'm lazy, and I like to be comfortable. And my style is a bit.. boyish. I've worn Oxford lace ups over the years.. and yet I can't throw a ball to save my life, don't do competitive sports (or competitive anything) and am in my own way, quite girly.

Volga commented yesterday that her six year old daughter chooses to dress in head to toe pink (with sprakly shoes). There is something universal about little girls and pink.



And then the next day, the sun came out, and I chanced upon a blossoming tree, with a bee pollinating it. If you've ever tried to focus on a bee.. while I waited patiently, shooting and missing the little guy, watching the bee go from flower to flower, I thought: well, that's it, isn't it? We arrange our petals as prettily as we can, we get our scent as lovely as possible, and just hope that bee will choose us. Maybe it's that simple

And at the precise moment I got this one shot, my bee went on his merry way.



It was a quite soft, Japanese moment, trailing her in the rain, just a few quick seconds of crossing the street (the light was green) and just as I was about to ask to shoot her, she closed the umbrella and in the same motion, entered the bank. And that was that.