What More Suitable Present for Your Friends at Home?

I seem to have accidently started a collection of old Athens travel guides. This latest one is probably my favourite.

The Tintin Shop

So Federer is out of Wimbledon, I so much wanted him to get his seventh title. And Murray is still in. Oh Day 9, you mean, mean day.

To cheer me up I popped into The Tintin Shop in Covent Garden on my way home from work. I really had no intention of buying anything because I'm on a huge Scrooge drive this month but I've always sort of liked Tintin. I used to watch it on Sunday mornings with my dad and while I could say I admire Hergé's ligne claire style or the unflappable Tintin's ability to get to the bottom of just about everything, it would be a bit of a lie. Actually I just really liked Snowy, Tintin's little fox terrier friend and now I will forever have him on a pencil and a notebook. Big grin.

A Free Gift? Yes Please

I love Topshop Make Up, step back and admire my latest purchases. A trio of Smarties coloured nail polishes. And even better I got the little make-up bag, eye liner, wipes and hair slides free. Yes sir. Now, what one to wear first?

Treats

I'm such a sucker for a soft cardboard cover notebook, so much so that I had to put a ban on myself buying any more at the beginning of this year. It may seem like a little thing but I seriously blow so much of my wages on notebooks it's ridiculous. Anyway the ban went out of the window this weekend when I saw these two geometric print books in Paperchase on my way to The Play-House V&A Late (where I bought the super cute rabbit print notebook and frankly, awesome pens disguised as pencils.)

Finally I have to show off the beautiful and pristine Folio Society British Myths and Legends book collection that I found in a charity shop this morning. If you hadn't heard of them before, the Folio Society publish some of the prettiest and best made books around. They're expensive but they feel like elegant treasures, crafted to last forever, to be cherished and handed down. I want them all.

Red Nose Day

Today is comic relief, the one day in the year when you’re most likely to meet someone sitting in a bath of baked beans. Shamefully I forgot to buy a red nose (I was holding out for one the pirate designs) but I think my mum made up for it by buying two of the Vivienne Westwood Red Nose Day tees. The Hogarth one in the photo is the one I got my grubby mitts on.

Charity Shop Rummage

A Sunday spent rooting around charity shops and watching 30 Rock. Not bad. I’m completely in love with the mink pink jumper, I’ll probably be living in it come summer.

World Book Night

Tonight is World Book Night where a million free books are to be given away across the country. I thought it unlikely that any of them would come my way, besides as I already buy enough books to carpet a small island I doubt I'm the target market for this particular campaign. However, when I got home today I found that both my mum and my sister had picked up a free World Book Night book in a local charity shop, a fact I'm rather impressed by, I really imagined it would be one of those vaguely mythical events that you hear about but never see real evidence of - like a lunar eclipse.

Running alongside this is the Alternative World Book Night, a really good idea with an emphasis on supporting independent booksellers by buying a book you really love for someone else and writing on it given in the spirit of World Book Night, March 5th 2011 and bought from [insert name of shop] – please enjoy and tell people about it. In the spirit of the day I popped into Stanfords and bought a copy of J. M. Synge's Aran Islands. The thing is I can't bring myself to give it away - not yet at least, so to make up for my obvious selfishness I'm telling you about it. That way at least I'm following half the instructions.

New Shoesss

Sheltering from the rain yesterday I took a trip into Westfield. It was manic and exhausting but completely worth it for the new brown boots I picked up in Office. As they were on sale I had a little bit of money left over to buy a pair of pink plimsolls in Topshop. Funtimes.

Incidently I love all the dusky, muted tones in the shops right now. I think new clothes are in order.

In The Post: Hoolala

I got this lovely little brooch from Hoolala recently. It came wrapped in nice airmail themed paper that I couldn't resist showing off and can't quite bring myself to throw out.