tuesdays are a good day

Today I did a guest post for The Corner Shop Blog. Regular readers will know that I adore the corner shop (and spend way too much time and/or money there). I feel I'm not quite cool enough for there, but I love it all the same. So you can imagine I was pretty chuffed to be asked to do a guest post for their blog about the 7 things that have been inspiring me recently. Things like Isabel Marant coats, macarons, and train rides - maybe all three at once, perhaps?

Here's the full post, and a link to it here.

We love following blogs, particularly those with lovely writing, photos and lots of personality. Hannah-Rose Yee is a media student from Sydney and the blogger behind  Capture the Castle. Here she shares her top 7 favourite things.

1. Isabel Marant Coat

I just bought this coat from the corner shop and, quite literally, haven't taken it off. It's brown and tweedy and all good things: deep pockets, long lines, dropped shoulders and oversized. It's like wearing your grandfather's tweed if only it was tailored to fit you perfectly and made everything you wore seem impossibly chic and french. I am a jacket person, I have a veritable "wardrobe of jackets", and this one has pride of place at the moment. Even though we're heading into summer everytime I put this coat on I'm back in a European winter again, traipsing around to art galleries and cafe bookshops and pizza expresses.

Vogue Paris 2008

2. Sofia Coppola's Somewhere

Sofia Coppola is a singular director. She has a style that is instantly recognisable - all soft focus and phoenix soundtrack - and her films are, as Variety said, "quiet heartbreakers". After the extravagance of Marie Antoinette she has pared back to her usual simplicity and freshness with a film about films. The main character is an actor taking time out in the Chateau Marmont, Los Angeles, when his daughter comes to visit. It's a story about fame and celebrity, but also fathers and daughters. It just won the golden lion for best film at the Venice Film Festival, and its bound to be just as wonderful as the rest of her canon - Lost in Translation, Marie Antoinette and the Virgin Suicides.

3. Long Skirts

I'm in luck this season: long is in. After years of having to either make my own long skirts or adapting them from floor length gowns the stores are saturated with them: jersey, structured, ballerina style, full, sleek and everything in between. I don't know what to do with myself! There something about a skirt that hits the calf and not the mid thigh that can bring a bit of glamour and excitement to everyday dressing. They're a breath of fresh air coming into summer.

4. Sonoma Chicken, Walnut and Lemon sandwiches on miche

This is the King of all sandwiches. There is no sandwich on earth to equal the gloriousness of this sandwich. Juicy chicken and creamy mayonnaise shot through with tarragon, acid lemon and the crunch of walnut. This sandwich has been known to lift bad moods, bring brother/sister bonding and be the glue that causes lunches to turn into long, leisurely lunches.

5. Trains

One of my favourite things to do is catch the train up the blue mountains to my aunt's house in Leura. The train rolls right into the station and suddenly you're in a complete other world complete with year-round christmas shop, the "olde lollie shop" and a vintage shop stocked with bakelite bangles and army surplus cargo jackets. It's best in winter when the windows fog up and the wind howls and you can settle down in your seat with the new issue of Vogue UK and your favourite novel (I always bring Bonjour Tristesse by Francoise Sagan because it's short novella form means I can read it in one sitting) and while away the hours watching the mossy green and forest browns rush by in a watercolour blur. Life can be really busy but it all slows down on a train. They give you time to think.

6. Macarons

Yes, yes, everyone loves them. Everyone talks about them. Everyone eats them. And there is a simple reason for that: they are soooooo good. They're pretty too, but mostly they're just really yummy. My favourites are the salted butter caramel and rosewater from Baroque in the Rocks, the chocolate delice from the Lindt chocolate cafe, and the rich, ripe raspberry goodness from Adriano Zumbo's patisserie in Balmain.

Macarons from Adriano Zumbo

7. Vintage Sex and the City

I do a very good Aidan Shaw. It's something about the voice - I'm great at impersonating guys with really comical, low voices. Like Elton from Clueless. And Aidan Shaw. My favourite episode is "the good fight" from Season 4, when Carrie and Aidan have a fight about clothes, closet space, small apartment and rogaine, among other things. "Don't mock the clothes", Carrie says to Aidan after he makes fun of her Robert Cavalli top. Don't mock the clothes. That's not a bad motto for life, now is it?

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