Anyway one thing sure to kick my ass into some Sunday afternoon scibbling (ok typing) is the fact tomorrow is my biggest blog-fan’s birthday. She has been a dedicated reader, a fan-email sender and all round eagle eye on all things Like a Skeleton Key. And she is… my mum! (This probably = minus cool points for some people, but she is the coolest fan I can think of having) So this little update is especially for her. When I mentioned I might blog about this trip we took, she said ooh I better watch my Ps & Qs if I’m going to be written about. I don’t think I have ever heard her utter more than a flip and she needs to be pretty raging to even drop one of those, but feel free to read this imagining that she swore at everyone she encountered and I’ve edited it out, it might make for a funnier read.

My mum and I have a tradition of going on a couple of weekend breaks every year. We’ve been known to pack ourselves off to chic Euopean locations like Paris… Bruges… Liverpool… Manchester… and this year her pick for a weekend jaunt was (drum roll) Nottingham. Yup, I know. I have to say, although it sounds very nice and all, I did give it a bit of a nose crinkle and furrowed brow as it’s a city I just didn’t know very much about – let alone what on earth we might find to entertain her there for three days. I’m glad to say, I was proved very wrong to be so doubtful.

We stayed in a standard Premier Inn, costing about the price of a round of drinks in London (!) per night. I am a big Hotel fan so found the room pretty swell even though it was no-frills. And of course I was chivalrous and gave my mum the double bed whilst I slept in the pull-out kiddy bed contraption that kept threatening to munch me everytime I so much as tensed a muscle in my sleep.

On the first day we just pottered around the town centre, which is really easily walkable and has some pretty areas to explore, like the old Lace Market and Hockley. I had the joy of introducing my mum to Shakeaway! I think these milkshake bars are quite common down South, but I’d only ever had the pleasure once before so was thrilled to stumble across one in Nottingham’s central square. I opted for a chocolate chip, dime bar and cheesecake special. (Mum opted for ‘just chocolate, just normal chocolate please’ ! Probably their easiest customer of forever) Mine tasted delicious, but also like diabetes in a cup and gave me the sugar-jitters for about 3 hours after; which was seriously badly timed with me having to pop into Primark to buy a cardigan. I had forgotten (tut, despite being Northern) that anywhere outside of London doesn’t have the protective smog jacket of stinky warmth, and so was in need of extra layers.

All set with my new chunky mustard knitwear (I am obsessed with mustard this year after never ever wearing anything that colour before. I’m like a magpie and now own so much mustard coloured clothing it might need it’s own drawer in my wardrobe. It’s a worry) I was ready to do some more exploring. We headed out of the city centre towards the Nottingham Trent campus, where there is an Arboretum. I didn’t know what this was, so to the uncultured, it’s basically another word for park. It was definitely worth a look; it had a nice lake, muchos ducks, ornamental gardens, exotic birds to peer at, a little maze and lots of leaves to kick. I think if we’d had longer I would have ventured out on the tram to Wollaton Hall & Park because it has real life deer and as previously mentioned, I love a good deer spot.

If you do find yourself in Nottingham, I think the best recommendation I received (via the power of Twitter) was Lee Rosy’s Tea Room,which is tucked away in the backstreets of Hockley, nestled between some nice independent art and music shops. They serve hundreds of different types of tea and a plethora of yummy cake goods. Not so good for lunch, as it’s just basic sandwiches on offer, so perhaps better as a good excuse for taking afternoon tea like a fancy person. The tea room was bustling but had a really nice atmopshere and very friendly staff, and was a great place to sit supping from our seemingly never ending pot of tea and reading books for an afternoon. They also stock tea to buy online here. I bought my boyfriend some lapsang souchong for Christmas (and a yellow submarine tea infusor, how cute is it?!) and it was really nicely pacakaged and tasted just as good at home without a nice waitress to brew it for you.

The more I write, the more wholesome and twee our Nottingham trip seems! I was going to say we did do one thrill-seeking, adrenaline pumping activity… but it was taking a ride on the carousel in the city centre. Ok, so we were definitely the only people on there over the age of 8, but it did go really fast and was dead scary, honest.

I’d definitely take a trip back to Nottingham. It was cheap, it was cheery and if nothing else takes you fancy – it’s probably the only place in the world where you can ride a carousel horse named Grandma.

I love cheeseburgers so much that this joyous Lazy Oaf sweater is top of my Christmas List, although sadly I don’t think I know anyone who loves me enough to pay 60 big ones for a novelty jumper! I would probably wear it everywhere though, even in the bath.

I’m pretty carniverous, despite the fact that upon meeting new people the most frequent judgement I get is that I “look like a vegetarian” which surely is just about the most random summation of a persons looks possible? But it happens over, and over, to the point that now two of my friends only refer to me as “our favourite meat-eating vegetarian”. Whenever I go for a nice meal I have the endless battle of wanting to branch out and try something new, but then my blood thirsty meat eater voice pipes up and saying ALL YOU WANT IS A CHEESEBURGER! Why deny it! And then I just have no choice but to order the burger. But is is a risky way to live your food-ordering life, as burgers can be so hit & miss. So often they arrive filled with greasy potential, only to let you down.  Dry stale bun, drooly cheese slop, brown lettuce, recently-frozen grey patty, rogue pickles…

So when I heard that MEATLiquor had opened and was serving “the best cheeseburger in London” I knew I would not be able to sleep easy until I had sampled it for myself. It is the latest project from the people behind the legendary elusive Meatwagon truck, and later #Meateasy… which I shamefully never managed to get to because it was in New Cross. and as a northerner-in-London my geography is not good enough to navigate myself to such an obscure location. Thankfully they must have felt my pain when selecting the location for MEATLiquor  as it is just behind Debenhams off Oxford Street, and a glorious ten minute straight-line stroll from my work.

MEATLiquor is snuggled into a quiet corner on Welbeck Street, surrounded by bleak car parks and hiding from the rawcous Oxford Street rabble. As I walked there, I started to wonder how hard it was going to be to find. The thing that no other review I’ve read has mentioned yet is that you can smell MEATLiquor minutes before it actually comes into view. As I clutched my iPhone and watched the little blue dot (me) scooch closer to the red pin (ML) I was suddenly hit with the definite hunger-groan-inducing smell of burgers. I did have to stop and have a stern word with myself, panicking that my over-excitement at going to MEATLiquor was bringing on some sort of scent delusion, but then I saw the red neon sign glowing in the distance and realised it was my impending dinner I could smell.

First things first, you will have to queue. Sometimes queues = overhyped disappointment, and that fear that people are purely joining a queue in a zombie/sheep/just to be cool fashion. The queue at MEATLiquor however is well deserved and exists because a) it’s amazing and b) once you are in and bagged your table, you aren’t rushed. Both these things  make it way more worth a wait than Alton Towers rides or something else you might happily stand in line for. If you arrive PRE-6.45pm on an early week night you will only have to wait about ten minutes. If you arrive after 6.45pm (I guess this is burger o’clock as it specifically does get instant busy at this time!) then I don’t know an approximate time but the queue was as far as the eye can see. Even way past the good-smells zone. Queue entertainment is however provided as impatient city boys and bustling business folk attempt everything to skip the queue and schmooze the doorman, who hearteningly is very fair and simply does not make any exceptions and tells them to get to the back of the line buster (only far more politely than that)

We were lucky to be seated right underneath this incredible ceiling art, but the entire interior is the epitome of the word cool. I’m a sucker for animals, especially angry looking animals, and ML has these in abundance. The seating and table settings are minimal (tealights in jamjars) but this just goes to help show off the drama of the towering burgers and beautiful beverages. It feels like you have walked into New York and I guess that is exactly the aim, as long gone are thoughts of tube tussles and work woes, as you soak up the grease fumes and the cheery staff make you welcome.

STARTERS: I opted for the buffalo wings with blue cheese dip which resulted in a heaving pile of wings – a really over generous portion for the price. They were slathered in the most heavenly hot sauce and left me a sticky, shiney, sauce covered mess of a girl gnawing on the bones in desperation for it not to be over. A good sign? My hot date opted for deep fried pickles. I am unfortunately a pickle-phobic. I hate the taste of pickles, the look of pickles and being called pickle. But he assured me that they were heavenly, the batter revealing a juicy, crunchy dreamland laying in wait.

MAINS: As a result of obsessing over Burgeracs Dead Hippie Review both hot date and I couldn’t bring ourselves to sample anything else. It’s been likened to a big mac, and I suppose it is, but a really insanely delicious version that won’t leave you with those hollow McDs guilts & shakes after! It’s 2 burgers, lotsa cheese and special oniony sauce. With the compulsory lettuce all burgers must have. Mmm burger-juicey lettuce. ..Why can’t all salad taste like you! I’m no fancypants food reviewer but it was definitely one of the best burgers of my entire life which is what I’d signed up for.

BOOZE: I should have guessed from the name, but I hadn’t expected the highlight of the night to be the drinks, not the burger! It’s a close run thing, but it’s the speciality cocktail House Grog that I can’t stop dreaming of since my ML experience. A rum based punch served in a giant glass jar/jug with a hunk of pineapple and a straw makes you feel like you are in a Wham! video and tastes SO good. It goes down way too easily, and the menu specifies that customers are limited to “2 servings only” ! When the table in the middle of ML was apparently designed especially for dancing on, this seems a little mean. I could have definitely gone for 4, although my bank manager and hot date might not have thanked me so perhaps ML are wise to protect their clients with a rationing policy. I also sampled the cocktail named loosely around The Full English (?) and the fact I can’t remember the exact name is because it was pure alcohol with no mixer. Just spirit. But somehow delicious and also served with a mini pickled-egg rolled in bacon dust (where do you buy bacon dust?! I want to roll all my food in it please) and so was worth a sample purely for that. The MEATLiquor twitterer claims “Come hungry. Leave drunk.” I can vouch for this claims accuracy due to the fact I talked about dog bones for an entire 30 minute night bus ride home!

The atmosphere really was electric in there, in that exciting buzzy way of something amazing taking place. Everyone was beaming (no hipster pouting going on, hooray) and the ambience, CHEAPNESS, service and food could not be faulted. To read some proper-reviews by people fortunate enough to sample everything on the menu – go here to Time Out  and here to Cheese and Biscuits blog.

Safe to say I will be going back super soon. I’m looking at it this way – everytime I go I get fatter. Therefore every next time I go I have more bee blubber to keep me warm in the queue!

I’ve missed tapping away in this little white box and spreading my adventures and antics across the internet! I have so many things to tell you about too. I’ve been on an American road trip (Vegas > San Fransisco > LA) perhaps a tad ambitious in the space of two weeks but it was worth it for the 5000 memories and photographs I’ll have forever. I’ve survived a zombie apocalypse, I went and ate a cheeseburger as big as my head at the brand sparkly new MEATLiquor (I recently discovered the best burger blog on the internet aka Burgerac and have since been obsessed with tracking down every 5/5 rated location and sampling for my greedy guts self. This is great for fun points, bad for diet points. Anyway I bet you can’t read his MEATLiquor review without drooling into your keyboard). I’ve been taken stargazing to a secret observatory on Hampstead Heath that I had no idea existed and I saw Jupiter through a giant telescope.

So get ready, you are about to be bombarded with a giant dose of Beelife, you might need one seriously big cup of tea to get through it all.

For now here are some of my favourite United States of Adventure shots, can you hear my sigh over the internet over the fact I am now back in blistery blustery London?

& If you don’t already, you can follow me on Twitter @hellobee for microsized witterings such as “I’m so glad I wore a zaney print dress today as I just spilt tomato soup down myself and no one will ever be any the wiser”  !

I have a serious case of instagramatitus. I’m no longer interested in any element of life that I can’t apply a sun-dappled nostalgic filter to and swoon at it’s beauty!  Although, just as I got into the addict spectrum, my iPhone broke. Overheated and apparently it’s terminal! I wonder if there was a connection between discovering Instagram and this…?

So for now I am stuck with a £12.99 brick that doesn’t even have predictive text! In fact the only thing I have worked out how to do is set the ‘Greeting Message’ (remember them!) to “I’m a stupid hunk of junk”. Yup.

I left the house in just a playsuit and cardigan, and didn’t feel a prickle of cold once. Even once the sun had set and I was pottering home. I walked 6 miles today, on the hunt for blossom and green grass and  beers outside and London Fields. Everyone I came across had wide smiles and the sky was blue.

Do you follow any of your favourite clothes shops on Twitter? I follow quite a few, as I like to keep a beady eye out for discounts and sales and the like. A few months ago I started following Tesco Clothing on Twitter, and I think I can definitely vouch for keeping their Tweet-er employed, as last week they posted a link to this gorgeous floral print playsuit that was reduced to £12. Within two seconds of seeing the tweet, I was on the website, selecting my size and purchasing before I could literally take another breath! It was ridiculous! Luckily my haste paid off, as I absolutely adore everything about this playsuit. The frills, the print and the length. I can’t wait to the degrees to nudge up a bit and wear it bare legged all summer long.

Something about the summer makes me want to ditch all my stuffy, stiff handbags and just stick all my worldly belongings into a tote bag. I don’t know why! I guess they are a handy size to shove a picnic blanket into, books, sunglasses, bottles of toffee apple cider etc into! This is my favourite one, I bought it at an Erol Alkan show and it always makes me smile.

This month I had the unabounding joy of getting to query and question one of my all-time favourite blogs. If you haven’t yet added Louder Than Silence to your reader then your life is a slightly shadowy and dark place. This pair of lovebirds are insanely awesome, in that cool sort of way that you cannot fake or pretend, but just by being naturally stylish and sweet. Posting about their love of fashion, music, adventuring around London and of course, each other, their blog is a hazey heady combination of pretty pictures, his & hers outfit posts and stories of their explorations.

These guys are basically the blog version of watching episodes of F.R.I.E.N.D.S … where by after immersing yourself in their world for a while you then have to accept, with a  sinking feeling, that sadly you won’t be joining them on their next antic even if it feels like you are now part of their wonderful world.

But you can read about it!

Introducing Sally & Ross…

1. When did you start your blog & why?
We started Louder than Silence in August after months of deliberation. We both love photography, design and writing so it seemed like a good idea to start a joint blog – and since we’d not seen a blog written by a couple before, it seemed like a fairly original idea, too.

2. What inspires you in terms of content/theme/appearance?
So many things, we’re always finding inspiration in the strangest of places! Content-wise, we pretty much write about noteworthy places we’ve been, things that we’ve enjoyed and our favourite outfits which are usually vintage inspired – we’re both into the sixties at the moment, it must be all the old films we’re watching! We love blogs that give you an insight into the blogger’s life so we try to inject as much of our personalities as possible and make it a little more ‘real’. In terms of themes and appearance, we’re inspired by nostalgia, heritage and good, clean design. Ross likes for the pictures to speak for themselves, as we’re all too aware that many people will just skim through without reading the words.

3. How would you describe your blog in three words?
Louder than Silence?! Ha. ‘Fashion, culture, us’? It’s quite hard to be succinct as it’s a blog about lots of things.

4. What is the story behind the name Louder Than Silence?
Sally is a bit of a branding geek (blame the marketing degree!) so wanted something that had longevity, was original and wouldn’t restrict our content. We got the idea from the Florence and the Machine song where she sings “louder than sirens…” and thought we could change the word sirens to silence. We like the fact that Louder than Silence could be interpreted as “Something rather than nothing”, and surely it’s better to say something than nothing at all!

5. What makes you the most happy and most sad?
Ooh that’s a tough one – we hate to go all soppy on you but we’d have to say that we make each other happy. No matter how rubbish our day has been, knowing that we can come home for a big ol’ natter and a cuddle over a bottle of red wine makes us smile. In terms of what makes us sad, we cannot abide prejudiced people, it really angers us.

6. Who are Louder Than Silence?
We live with a housemate in a lovely Georgian flat in central London but we’re originally from the sunny West Midlands. Sally works in fashion PR at a little agency in the west end but is an old fashioned girl at heart, and loves nothing more than trawling charity shops and flea markets for vintage gems. She’s also rather partial to an ice cold G&T. Ross designs for print and web at a creative agency in Hoxton, and he’s most likely to be found in a pub watching a band with a beer in hand or at home reading Chuck Palahniuk (with a beer in hand). We have a lot of shared passions which is probably why we get on so well; art, film, photography and music to name but a few. And of course not forgetting food and drink – most of our social life is based around these two things!

7. Where are your favourite places to shop for your beautiful (I think quite often shared…?!) clothes?
We love vintage so a spot of charity shopping never fails to please; we tend to get our best bargains when we’re at ‘home home’ (Wolverhampton/Shropshire). In London we love shopping at Beyond Retro, Rokit and Portobello and Spitalfields markets for vintage. Urban Outfitters is our favourite High Street store thanks to the plethora of lustworthy brands they stock, including Sally’s favourite, tba.

8. Which others blogs do you feast on?
Sally reads so many blogs but her current favourites are She’s Got A Passion For Fashion, WishWishWish, Helmi Ostalla, Lulu Letty and Pretty Much Penniless. Ross likes photography blogs, his favourite being Viktor Vaulthier who he actually met at a gig last week through mutual friends, which was nice.

9. You two get up to a lot of exciting London adventures and antics. What are your top 3 Must do/Must see big smoke locations?
Ooh such a difficult question as we’ve so many – we deliberated over this answer for aaages but finally whittled it down. One would definitely be to spend a Sunday in Columbia Road flower market then head down Brick Lane/Spitalfields for vintage shopping. Another would be to catch a gig at the Roundhouse in Camden. It’s such a cool venue – we’d recommend heading to the Lock Tavern down the road for a pre-drink first too. Finally, we absolutely love Hampstead Heath to get away from it all, especially in the summer when everyone’s basking in the sunshine with picnics and cider. One of our favourite websites for checking what’s on in town is http://www.thevintageguidetolondon.com/ It’s wonderful for finding out about exhibitions, club nights and the like – a real must for fellow vintage lovers!

10. What is your blogging soundtrack?
It depends what mood we’re in to be perfectly honest, we don’t really have a soundtrack as such. Perennial favourites of ours include Belle and Sebastian, the Beatles, the Strokes, Mystery Jets, the Smiths and Gang of Four.

11. When do you next venture abroad & where will you be heading?
We’re hoping to go to Barcelona in the next few months as we’ve never been before. Red wine, culture, the beach and tapas you say? We’re there! We’d also like to visit Greece in the summer – we lived there for six months so would love to go back and see all of our friends (and have a Mythos or three!).

Ahhh, doesn’t it melt your heart! Thanks for putting your lovely life into blogland for all to share Sally & Ross. I’m sure you are just gasping for more so go make yourself a nice big weekend coffee and head over to Louder Than Silence.

March: Spotlight on I Want You To Know
February: Spotlight on Make Do & Mend
January: Spotlight on Clear Your Heart
December: Spotlight on Rock n Roll Bride
November: Spotlight on French For Cupcake
October: Spotlight on Fur Coat, No Knickers
August: Spotlight on Blair On A Budget
April: Spotlight on Earth vs The Wildheart

I headed out on a countryside stroll with my mum, who ended up dragging me through tunnels, wading into rivers and teetering down cliff faces (ok, steep hills). She will now be forever known as action-mum…

Since I got back to London I’ve been feeling homesick. There’s something so soothing about walking walks you’ve done since you were a child and so many of my very best friends are there, that it’s hard not to do a bit of pining when I’m back hundreds of miles away from all that again. Then my grown up job exploded into chaos and I have worked so hard and so many hours this week I’ve burst a bloodvessel in my eye.

Hot stuff!

01-03: Camden crawling. Had to pick up a small treat so got this waist long camera on a chain from one of the stable stalls.

04-05. Thinking pink. So not impressed that after neatly packing all my winter woollens away (I know, so premature!) that I’ve had to dig them all back out.

06-09: Street art on the warren of roads behind Brick Lane. The Antiantiantianti piece goes on for an entire street!

9-10. I went to see Pains Of Being Pure At Heart at Kings College. I appreciate the stamp detailing. Don’t be put off by the name, this band are amazing!

11. I recreated the holy Counter Cafe french toast! at home this weekend. It was actually really simple and cheap. I just dunked some bread in egg, fried it and served up with raspberries (99p for a bag of frozen ones at Tesco) and two sliced bananas which I also fried until caramelly. CC use brioche in their version so might try that next time!

12. Agent Cooper posing. I haven’t featured her on here for ages. Monday was my ONE YEAR anniversary of having her. One whole year and I haven’t broken her, phewf… I must be a real grown up.

There may be a little blog lul now (expect for a super special scheduled Sunday announcement) as I am packing my bags and speeding up to the north to be northern for a bit and see my friends & family & The Decemberists.

It’s forecast to snow – great welcome home!

This month is very exciting. This month marks my blog’s ONE YEAR BIRTHDAY! One whole year of me ranting and rambling and rummaging for topics to talk about and photograph. More about that next weekend on the exact anniversary day (treats ahoy) but to mark a very special month I’ll be having two spotlight features on two of my absolute, all-time favourite blogs this month, which makes me a bit weak at the knees…

First up is the divine Kristabel from I Want You To Know. Forget celebrity style crushes, they have nothing on this fashionable femme! Kristabel not only has a wardrobe I’d probably donate vital organs for, but a real talent for photography and witty writing so her blog is a head first plunge into viewing the world through her eyes. Oh and she’s lived in New York (maximum jealous.) I love the amount of little life details Kb goes into and also how every outfit is so completely unique and inspirational, but varying in style and trends. Oh and for a fashion outsider/novice, her seasonal trends updates are accessable and dreamy. Added to that, she is just a real sweetheart. Prepare to want to be her! Or at least be her friend.

1. When did you start your blog & why?
It was a combination of factors. I’d started to read quite a few blogs over the Summer of 2008 like Style Bubble and Flying Saucer and gradually my subscriptions grew and I began to think that I could contribute in some way. After going to the Angels Sale, I was so overwhelmed by the event but couldn’t really get this across to offline friends. I decided to write a blog post to show off my wares and the rest was history!

2. What inspired you in terms of content/theme/appearence?
In the beginning I was really new to Blogger and HTML, so I just kind of made up my theme as I went along. I wanted my header to include my favourite things and I’ve managed to build upon it as time went on.

3. How would you describe your blog in three words?
A bit random?

4. What is the story behind your blog name; I Want You To Know?
I named it after my favourite song at the time by Charlotte Hatherley, of Ash fame. It doesn’t really have any particular meaning, I just wanted a slightly abstract and ambiguous name.

5. What makes you the most happy and most sad?
I am happiest when having a spontaneous and insightful day with friends and family. I’m saddest when bad things happen to people who in no way deserve them.

6. Who is I Want You To Know?
I’m a final year knitwear student living between London and Nottingham. I’m a bit eccentric and probably have about a million thoughts going around my head. I tend to listen to a collection of the same songs over and over again before I eventually find new songs that manage to make the grade.

7. Can you share with us your top New York Tips?
Wander around the backstreets of key areas like Soho, The Lower East Side and Greenwich village, sometimes you can stumble across the most interesting places tucked away. Also Flushing in Queens has amazingly cheap Chinese food and transports you to another world!

8. Which others blogs do you feast on?
There’s a fair few, but the ones I really like checking are Style Bubble, Kingdom of Style, The Clothes Horse, Flying Saucer, Wish Wish Wish, Dead Fleurette and Park and Cube. There’s plenty more on my blogroll too!

9. You recently did an awesome run down of Spring/Summer11 trends. What are you personally coveting for Spring; fashion and otherwise?
I really want to find some creative prints on skater dresses, shorts and even tights. I want to try and revisit a few places in Europe this summer, hopefully Berlin and Paris.

10. What is your blogging soundtrack?
I tend to stream tv shows in the background, so most likely the somewhat generic choices of Gossip Girl, Glee, Desperate Housewives and anything Top Model related. I’m unashamedly also a fan of TV that’s so ‘bad’ it’s good, so think Gypsy Weddings, The Only Way is Essex, Take Me Out and occasionally Hollyoaks!

11. Valentines Day – Yay/Nay?
Nay!