my bedroom wall

Can I just take a moment to talk about how beautiful my room is looking right now? I'd finally had enough of the semi falling down wardrobe thing and got myself some proper shelves. Also, having drawers for t-shirts & stuff is so helpful. I was set on having a floating shelf about my clothes rack but Justin the builder said they never work & always end up dropping, so a small internet purchase later & the space is filled. This word banner is pretty sick & I can make anything I want, this being too much of a challenge I plonked for "Whatchamacallit" for now. I'm not really one for cliche motivational quotes so the choice is slightly limiting. 

Any ideas?

shuffling back & hoping no one notices

Changes. Changes.

What do you think? Pattern & everything. It's mainly because I want more writing on the blog & it gets a bit lost in the wider layout. However, the awesome photos hopefully won't stop. Annoyingly I lost the url for the image above, which unforgivable now I've discovered google's search by image feature, well useful for tumblr sourcing.

Anyway this is all basically to explain I've been away because I sort of ran out of knowing how to say things through this blog. It's so easy if you're a fashion blog, or a politics blog, or a design blog or whatever because there's a focus. But I've never really been able to stick to one interest & I don't really want to. I think it's more interesting to appeal to a range of people, right people? People out there who possibly read this blog?

So what have I been doing? Nothing much. Getting pissed off at work. Christmas! Man, Christmas. Was pretty good, I got lots of lovely things & had a pretty good time with the fam. I got a review published in the Runnymede Trust Bulletin. Pretty rad. I made a gender politics section at work. Filled with lovely books about awesome women & written by amazing people. I've found someone to do my next tattoo. I've listened a hell of a lot to Azealia Banks, Angel Haze & um, Marina & the Diamonds. Marina & the Diamonds acoustic covers on youtube are so beautiful. Honestly. 

& as for the future? Well of the blog at least I'm gonna start by explaining some of the shit that I've put down the right hand side, because I want you guys to know a bit more about that. & because my friend Poppy said that she thought it would be good to just tell people stuff they need to know, like I do for her. Like... Don't shop in Topshop. Or Amazon is evil. But explain it. So yeah, I'm gonna do some of that because people should know! & then I won't be the only mad person going on about this shit. & do you still wanna see clothes? I'll see if I can do it in a way that doesn't seem taxing like it was before. I'll try harder with the photography I think. I mean I do have an A Level at A in it, so I should've (theoretically) learnt something.

Basically I want this to be something that leads me into something I want to do & putting everything I care about up here seems like the best way to do that. If you know what you wanna see or know from/about me then let me know. & e-mail me, neonpeg@gmail.com. Because some of you guys send me the best e-mails & I've had the best conversations with & I want to know more of you.

Alright? Sweet. So what the fuck have I missed?

So it's all over. & what a fucking deflated note to end on when it's basically been a month or more of beautiful amazingness that I never thought we were even capable of hosting. As soon as the Opening Ceremony started all my "I'm not sure about this" was gone. I squealed when Arctic Monkeys came on (luckily I hadn't been on the internet that day & it was a genuine surprise!) & their rendition of Come Together was just... wow. I was blown away, literally. It was a total surprise.

I on holiday for the first week but had the second off work & literally had it on 24/7 when I was at home. It was gripping. As it always was. But somehow more so when you saw everything working & that it was in London & all the different outfits done by Stella McCartney for the medal givers & athletes. It was endlessly entertaining.

Then the closing ceremony happened. I honestly had to keep biting on my blanket it was so embarrassing. I mean George Michael? Ok, if he sings one song & it's one that everyone knows. But not 3. & not unknown ones. That was basically the beginning of the end of the front of pride for me. The Paralympics opening ceremony did little to redeem it, minus the emphasis on Physics & also the Human Rights, which the Tories want to get rid of. & have in fact just promoted one of the most outspoken Conservatives on that front. It was like Danny Boyle's whisper was still echoing around. But it wasn't the same.

& last night after being sick a couple of times I went to bed & just watched the closing ceremony this morning. Sorry not the Paralympics closing ceremony, actually just a coldplay gig. I mean are you fucking kidding me? I know they're meant to be one of the biggest bands in the world but I have literally never met anyone who likes them, or will admit to liking them. & to pin a whole three hour ceremony that's meant to symbolise all that is great about Britain on them is like only showing the Judo coverage from the olympics & nothing else. Like we've never produced any other decent bands. 

To re-alliterate this feeling Rhianna & Jay Z (AKA Chris Martin's mates) performed as well. A song that is about Roc Nation, or at least New York/ the music business. Not the world or even sport. It's not a triumphant song. Like I'm sorry. I fucking love both of them, in almost any other context I would be so hyped to see them even with Jay Z mucking up his verses. But this is to celebrate British achievement. It's a showcase of us to the world, that we have more than handled. With ratios to size we obliterated every other country at the games & we have a rich musical culture (as showcased in the Olympic Opening Ceremony, sort of) we don't need to draft in American's to do the job. Hell no.

But this isn't even the worse thing I've seen today. David Cameron talking about triumph & overcoming adversity when it comes to disability, that "if children are like his" oh man, so many fucking quotes that make me scream mildly over most of his speech. Here's the thing. Labour brought the games to London & did so by saying it would inspire a new generation to take up sport. Labour & specifically Gordon Brown poured money into sport so that we could be the best we could be. Labour invested £2.4bn into school sport raising the participation level to 90%. 

The conservatives have cut funding to sport by £22bn at least since the first budget, mainly from schools but also from councils that provide sports facilities. School children participating in 2 hours of sport has fallen to 25% after the waves of cuts. As much anger as we should legitimately direct at Atos, the company given £100 million a year to take as many people as possible off incapacity benefits, it's the government, the conservative coalition who are driving this. 1100 people on incapacity benefit who were deemed fit for work later died. This government doesn't believe that disabled people should be granted enough money to live a decent life. The money that meant many paralympians could be at the games at all.

And finally going back to the below par-ness of the closing ceremonies & Paralympic opening ceremony I would like to point the finger squarely at Kim Gavin, the director of all three. This man made his name producing Take That's shows. Take That who include Gary Barlow. Gary Barlow who is a supporter of the conservative party, campaigned for them & got a distinctly mute opinion from one David Cameron when asks to compare his moral objection to Jimmy Carr over his old chum Gary Barlow who had done exactly the same thing.

THIS IS NOT OK WITH ME.

(photo credit: Francis Baker and Ros Barnett via Left.write.center. Stats from this article)

So yeah, no fancy excuse for my hiatus. I was ill for a few days & busy for the others. Even my mum was shocked I didn't do a International Women's Day post, *feminist shame*. Anyway here's some things from the last week. 

Venn diagram Valentine's card that I see on my table everyday. Working on an icons series of embroideries, tattoo inspired, a little like my mum's Jarvis Cocker birthday present. Also realised that a surprising number on my icon list have committed suicide, oh. Reading Edie, a gorgeously 80s copy leant by the very awesome Mark Sperring of off work. Seeing my name in the Guardian (stylists assistant). More nail experimentation, & I ain't even done yet, gonna add another chevron. Still haven't learnt how not to chip them within two seconds of drying though...

Oh yeah & YAY 200 FOLLOWERS! Thanks guys. This, in a lovely symmetrical math geek manner is also my 400th post. How insane is that? 400 word/picture vomits. Well, I hope some of them came off better than that sounds. & a prize giveaway will follow, something embroidered & possibly zine related if that's alright with you guys.

Ok I'll be straight with you, I am in no way shape or form a "beauty" type of girl. I usually flick through the beauty pages of magazines unless there's some pretty packaging. I buy all my make up in Body Shop because I'm too lazy to research anything else. The only beauty products I own in quantity are nail varnish and Coconut Body Butter. But having stumbled across this lovely old shop pharmacy in Bath a couple of weeks ago I have to confess that I might be a little bit of a convert. We were drawn in by this Weleda stuff in the window because I'd read good things about it whilst looking for presents for my sister.

So we went in to sniff it & found another woman who has also heard good things about it & we opened alternate bottles of the stuff to see how it smelt. Anyway the Citrus one was the only other one that didn't smell like washing up liquid or something. Apart from the Chestnut which reminded me of Olbus Oil which I found strangely comforting having put it on my pillowcase every now & then since I was a kid. I was also a little bit of a sucker for the hippy mumbo jumbo on the back, "It captures the strength with which the mighty chestnut overcomes its own weight."

This week I finally got round to trying it because I don't take baths too often (too time consuming) only really when I have a book to finish. & Jesus. Wow. My skin was like properly smooth & it lasted for like two days, seriously. I can't say if I felt "relieved" or "toned" like the packet says. But my skin definitely liked it. Plus it was only £10 & I've used barely any of it, so definitely worth it to make Baths a little more special!

I was having one of those "Agh I don't know what to blog about!" moments when someone suggested my wardrobe/bedroom. So screw it, I always like nosing around other peoples houses & especially wardrobes, plus I'd just tidied up so here are some of my favourite bits of my bedroom, yay!

1/ Bed, Ikea duvet. Doesn't everyone have one? (or three...) & books! It's my dream to pile them up against my wall like Karl Lagerfield so they form disintegrating mountains or something. Plus a lovely candle from my sister & my stool with all my inscents on it that give my mum a headache.

2/ Wardrobe (or the rail with all the lovely stuff on it) colour coded, of course. Because I have a bit of an OCD about arranging clothes by the rainbow. On the two days I worked in Oxfam I did it to the whole shop. Issues. Yes.

3/ See no evil etc statue from my Grandparents & moomins mum brought back from Finland (Moominland). Plus sunglasses, two new pairs ready for summer. 

4/ Extra special clothes that are too special to go on the clothes rail. Not that they're not all special. Includes vintage 20s crepe dress that's falling apart, 50s velvet dress that fits like an insane dream, mental knitted dress & falling apart dressing gown that I want to do something with. Plus hats & skull shelf in the background.

5&6/ Above my clothes rail I have printed words, nice e-mails & sayings covering up the equation I spray painted onto the wall that is now on my arm. They're all a little outdated, but sometimes I read one & it makes me smile.

 I realise this is highly self indulgent so please just avert your heads if you're not as nosey as me... Oh & HAPPY FEBRUARY.

Chloe Sevigny is amazing. Do I need to say anything else? Oh these photos were taken by Craig McDean for Interview Magazine & you can see the rest here.

That is all.

This seemed appropriate for a Sunday post. I know, most of you will have already heard of Donna Wilson, or seen her lovely stuff at John Lewis & suchlike. Coming across lots of her work at the Soma gallery a week or so reminded me that I'd saved these catalogue images a while back. They're so damn cute! Almost cute enough to make me want to spend almos £40 on a hot water bottle cover... & I don't even like hot water bottles. I am more than a little tempted by the peanut teddy though, Valentines is coming up & the bf has just got a peanut tattoo in honour of my nickname for him. I know I told him, "Tattoos last longer than relationships." his reply, "Rad tattoos look awesome forever".

Sunday love.

My mum was going to buy this for me for Christmas after she saw it in my gift guide. But £12? For a snow globe? No. When I saw it in the sale I had to get it. & make a gif, because, you know. How shit were the sales this year? I was so disappointed. Zara was completely ransacked already, the offers in American Apparel were so stupidly confusing & loads of places just had shit stuff in the sale with no like 20% off everything offers like I was expecting. What happened to everyone being in trouble? I guess all the good stuff went in the pre Christmas sales...which defeats the whole point. I did get some lovely underwear though, only £5 off. Rubbish.

How did you get on

in the sales? 

Christmas presents yay! The one's I can photograph anyway. I did pretty well this year getting everything I asked for. Although there was a little bit off missed surprise. The biggest shocker was the bf's present which he'd told me was "fucking amazing" thereby rendering any present I got him worthless. But he was right! A copy of Bambi from the 50s which is in incredible condition & has absolutely stunning illustrations. Definetely planning future tattoos around them. Anyway it was beautiful.

Books wise I got Doulgas Couplands latest, Highly Inappropriate Tales for Young People which I read quickly on Christmas Day because it is ridiculously sick & funny. Thanks to my brother for that & a drawing book. My mum got me the Russian Tattoo Encyclopedia that I wanted but it's a little odd, it smells like it's been through a lot & there's a little too many penis' for my liking. No doubt interesting though...

The candle from my sister made me whole room smell like almonds. & I did get two lots of the Chanel matte coating nail varnish but it is fucking awesome so I look forward to experimenting with that, plus the foil & crackle effects ones I got too. My family know me well nail wise.

Anywho guys, I've missed you! What did you get for Christmas? Did you have a good one?

In my second to last year of secondary school a group of girls from my school went to Bristol University to learn about Physics. It was an alright day as far as school outings go, but it also opened up my eyes from electricity & all the other shit we'd thought of as "Physics" up until then. We made ice cream with liquid nitrogen, talked to a woman working on CERN & also watched a CD in a microwave. I got to keep the CD. On Brainiac the things in microwaves bit was always my favorite. & at college I loved doing microwave dyeing on fabric because you'd get really unexpected things happening.

Basically I have a long & checkered past with putting shit in microwaves that you shouldn't. So now that someone has created a tumblr dedicated to just that, photographed beautifully & even made into gifs (!) I no doubt have a new favorite site on tumblr. Microwhat is awesome. Oh & top to bottom: jaw breakers, soap, gummy bears, banana.