Category: Links

Friday Links

“There is no time for cut-and-dried monotony. There is time for work. And time for love. That leaves no other time.”
― Coco Chanel

Better late than never, kittens. A slammed week ended with my first ever proper British holiday work party, the stuff of stereotypes and pop culture memes. It ended up being a lot of fun and quite festive. The company I’m working with is chock full of interesting and driven people with amazing stories–such as a managing director who nearly joined the Household Cavalry regiment at one point, and had to participate in a hazing event where he and other recruits were hunted…on horseback! Or a project manager who, as it turns out, is also an Olympian silver medalist for Australia. I have to be careful not to feel quite dinky in comparison!

This weekend it’s freelance reports, Christmas shopping, and general meandering with Jeff, trying to take in as much of the city during the holidays as we can. Let me know what you’re getting up to, and share anything else worth reading in the comments.

Interesting. Apparently I’m pretty resilient, though I could improve in some ways that I find useful to think about.

This is not a drill! Opinions, please?

Read fiction.

Er, thanks for clearing that up, legal system?

I see your Christmas jumpers and I raise you these!

Incredibly relevant to my current interests and obligations.

Learn about something new every day, darlings.

More things to read. My US library card recently expired leaving me in a terrible conundrum! I usually have about five books going at once and quite suddenly I shot down to zero on my kindle, and I still don’t have a London library card–due to the ongoing and deeply annoying problem of trying to get a bank account, and thus bills, information, and credit in my own name to open a library account. I cannot imagine how women lived without a legal identity, and in the not too distant past. I simply can’t.

Someday I shall open a business called…Bantam and Frost.

Minor warning for pearl clutchers, but this is a really fascinating article about what historically could be put on tiny photos.

Friday Links (Black Friday Edition)

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”
-Oprah Winfrey

Happy Thanksgiving weekend, ducklings! Jeff and I finally made it to The Mayflower for Thanksgiving dinner, and it was about as charming a British pub as you could find anywhere. In less happy news, Black Friday has crossed the Atlantic in all its greedy glory. I like a deal as much as the next kid but I can’t say I like this development.

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Of all the things for us to export culturally, it had to be this thing

For my next gala event, I think I shall require tiaras. With bonus points for unusual ones.

Know your consumption, and it’s effects, I suppose.

One writer tells of their experience sending celebrities fan mail, and who wrote back. I wrote to President Clinton as a little girl and got a note back on White House stationary that was QUITE impressive at show and tell.

Interesting piece from Business Insider about the two traits found in successful relationships and why.

Our taxi drivers put those of any other metropolis to shame. I will fight anyone who says different.

Trigger warning, this story is about sexual brutality towards children. But it’s an important read to know what women and girls are up against in some corners of the world. And the last two sentences will get you right in the gut.

Simplistic, but more or less spot on, I think. (Can’t stop chortling over the, “Guys….”)

Long live English.

Step into a cookbook editor’s kitchen.

How do you not know that you have one of these?!

Friday Links

“And I like large parties. They’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.”
― F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

On Wednesday I put on construction boots and gear and got to go through a Grade II listed historic building site getting nicely dusted up. Yesterday we put on the event I’d been primary planner on at Somerset House and spent a few hours going around in heels and a LBD entertaining the super wealthy with caviar, champagne, and vodka (the sourcing of which on such short notice has rather consumed my work life for the last week and a half). In other words, the gig continues to be great!

It also continues to be terribly busy so here are your links, quick and dirty!

hardhat

 

Pemberley is for sale, team. And it has a bear pit.

Words can’t express how heartily I endorse this.

Well, this is grimm…sorry. I’ll show myself out…

Who knew that C02 could like this artistic?

Ebloa, already a horrifying disease, has another scary component I just learned about this week, a degree of sexual transmission ability. Yikes.

Jeff has found his next cooking project.

Well this is just positively heartwarming. Be sure to read the follow up for extra heart warms.

There’s nothing like living in a fashion capital to make you doubt your style abilities. Bill Cunningham to the rescue.

The struggle is real.

The effort that goes into cheese. Totally worth it.

Friday Links

“Be steady and well-ordered in your life so that you can be fierce and original in your work.”
― Gustave Flaubert

It’s Friday, I’m putting the Russian event to bed and gearing up for one involving Rolls Royce. Life is surreal right now. It’s also Jeff’s 29th birthday and I get to tease him about being old (while wiser people roll their eyes at us). I have to say, he is aging marvelously.

We celebrated earlier in the week with an excellent dinner at a restaurant we’d both wanted to go to for over a year, and it was worth it! Tonight it’s pizza and movies with presents.  Over the weekend it’s freelance, food, and writing/editing. I’m pleasantly tired and looking forward to it. If I could find a way to mix in regular exercise again, I would be downright impressive. Here are you links, with extra holiday cheer, and share anything else worth reading in the comments!

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The view from Jeff’s birthday dinner. Not bad.

The John Lewis Christmas film has arrived. And I am in irrational love with it. Call me ridiculous, but as the companion of an intrepid and well loved teddy bear, I think this advert nails both the relationship and the general loveliness of the season. Sue me.

Sainsbury too?! Guys, my heart grew three sizes this day.

And speaking of childhood wonder: loop forever.

The madness needs to stop!

Newly working with luxury developers as I am (she humbled bragged), these caught my eye.

In case you haven’t noticed them on The Toast, their women in Western art pieces are hilarious. But this is my favorite yet.

I snort laughed, remembering the feeling of the limitations of my first paycheck well.

Good luck sleeping tonight.

Oh dear…some of Jeff’s “dance” moves are validated…

My religi-crush on the Pope continues.

Friday Links

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity”
― Sun Tzu

It’s been a very busy week, ducklings, and I’m properly knackered.

The sort term gig I have picked up through the end of the year is to be an interim marketing and sales coordinator at a rather impressive property development firm in West London. I’m one week in and I’ve been lucky enough to be decently trained by the outgoing individual in order to get a good grasp on the company and projects. I’m also helping to organize an event that is costing more money than I think I see in a year on extremely short notice–leading to odd non sequitur exclamations like, “Do we have vodka?!” and “More black marble!”–but it’s a good chance to prove myself both competent and useful. I’m actually having a pretty great time!

In the meantime, this weekend will be filled with freelancing and dates with Jeff who is similarly in a crunch time at work, meaning that hangout time is a priority. It’s all things business at the Small Dog residence. Here are your links, kittens, and let me know what you’re doing this weekend in the comments.

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Just do it.

Interesting news piece and gallery on the history of mourning clothing.

Just saying.

Maps and the Roman empire. It’s like someone made a clickbait headline just for me!

After a big and rewarding but demanding week, this list perked me right up.

Very interesting piece on the history of the job role of an executioner and his/his family’s place in society. There’s more to it than meets the eye, apparently.

This needs to happen, Disney. Because if your face is wider than your waist, something is actively wrong.

Some people have too much money. This site (and this object) is a thing.

We need to take ALL the day trips.

Fascinating. (Incidentally, we’re right in the middle of cheap housing, thanks.)

My latest piece for The Collaboreat about my favorite London food truck. If you visit, assume that you will be taken to eat here.

Ballet across the last century.

Friday Links

“Don’t loaf and invite inspiration; light out after it with a club.”
― Jack London

Happy Halloween!

My life got extremely busy, extremely quickly the week. I just picked up a short term gig as a project and marketing assistant coordinator for a luxury retail design company–no exaggeration, Russian oligarchs may or may not be involved–and two temp assignments in my field over three days. I’m very pleased at the unexpected good fortune, just trying to schedule it all in. I also had a doctors appointment, a venue scouting, a creative onboarding meeting, and a mass of brand new freelance assignments all at pop up at once on my To Do list for tomorrow.

Translation? There is a pile of dishes in my sink that are just going to have to wait and heaven help the rest of the flat. Jeff’s right next to me in the weeds too, this week, and has been waking up a 5am to get some extra hours in at work. I foresee grumpiness until Sunday naps can rectify the situation. In the meantime, here are your links and let me know what you’re getting up to in the credits.

The goal is to avoid this fate.
The goal is to avoid this fate.

In honor of the day.

The 11th Duke of Marlborough passed away just a couple of weeks ago, which news caught my eye since we were so recently at Blenheim Palace, the Marlborough seat. Apparently the 12th Duke and his father had a major falling out (due to a rather public drug addiction issue and other problems) and steps were taken in the 1990s to make sure that though he gets the title, he isn’t entirely master of Blenheim. Who needs Downton Abbey, I ask you? Tatler has a look back at the 11th Duke’s admittedly full life.

Oh, for hell’s sake

Say it with me: freedom of religion does not mean the ability to force other people to conform to your religion. In fact, it’s kind of supposed to protect against that. This sort of new genuinely frightens me.

Shut up and take my money.

Interesting piece on my generation’s trend of not buying the things that our parents and grandparents considered necessities–and that traditionally pull nations out of Recessions. Truthfully, I don’t miss having a car at all and it will be years before we even think about the potential of buying instead of renting.

Friday Links

“For Children: You will need to know the difference between Friday and a fried egg. It’s quite a simple difference, but an important one. Friday comes at the end of the week, whereas a fried egg comes out of a chicken.”
― Douglas Adams, The Salmon of Doubt

Must dash, quite busy today. Here are your links, and let me know what you’re getting up to this weekend in the comments!

This story broke last week, but I still think it’s important. First of all this happened in the county where my parents live so it immediately caught my personal attention, and secondly I think this piece does a really good job exploring its title question. Thrill? Experimentation? Ignorance? And the question, “Will this not be as big a deal someday and therefore less frightening?” is both an intriguing and odd one. On the one hand, a world where girls (and let’s face it, we are mostly talking about female exploitation and exposure here) aren’t stigmatized, bullied, or hounded into self-harm and suicide but allowed to move on with minimal negative impact seems like a pretty good one. But that means it’s also a world where sexualized images of real, non-consenting children are even more widely available. Weigh in in the comments, please, because I’m really curious to hear people’s reactions and thoughts.

An article about a time capsule. Nice in and of itself, but the first comment (more specifically the response to it) rather made me chuckle.

Yep.

Where does your nomenclature put you on the political spectrum? There’s a site for that! (I laughed uproariously at my own results.  Jeff, incidentally, is apparently somewhere around here.)

Tumblr find of the week.

Interesting piece on BBC News about why Brits (and to some extent Americans eat and eschew the meats that we do.

Indeed, let us bring back the hat pin!

British comment sections are the best comment sections. The first two comment threads especially.

I need this because I am hell on umbrellas…

Great short piece on xoVain about the history of banning black hair.

There is so much still to find!

Girl power. (h/t Savvy)

Friday Links

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
― L.M. Montgomery

Another week, another weekend approaches! It’s been a somewhat slow one, which has left some time for other schemes and projects, some of which are bearing fruit nicely. How’s that for vague?

However, they still require my attention so here are you links. Add anything else worth knowing in the comments, and tell me what you’re getting up to this weekend. I’m hoping to snag some tickets to the Westminster Abbey choir’s Christmas concerts (good grief, it is that time of year), scout some new work potentials, and sorting (still!) through photos of our recent travels and excursions. I’m never going to catch up…

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Tumblr find of the week.

h/t to Katarina who found this while wasting time on the internet and immediately it with me.

Breakfast is a many splendid thing.

Why books and literature are important. A big topic boiled down.

Let’s pretend grinding student debt isn’t a thing, okay? How gorgeous are these?

Goodness…this is a thorough explanation!

Kate Beaton’s latest Hark, a vagrant! post pretty much made my week.

The oldest piece of art in the world.

The mantua-makers of Colonial Williamsburg show us how the big hair of the late 18th century was actually done. One word: bump-its. Nothing is new under the sun.

Fascinating look at the relationship between the ballet and high fashion.

The big new in feminism is my old stomping grounds, Utah. Specifically Utah State University and a violent threat. I cannot for the life of me understand the mind that can logically hold this thought: “Video games don’t cause men to be violent to women and if you don’t stop saying they do, I’ll kill you, bitch.”

Friday Links (Back in the Saddle Again Edition)

“There’s nowhere else like London. Nothing at all, anywhere.”
-Vivienne Westwood

It’s been good to be back at work again, but still an adjustment! All the same I’ve been working on a new client project, scouting for even more work, and recapping recent adventures with delight. Not a bad first week back to the grindstone. This weekend I’m going to see a new exhibit at the British Museum about witches in honor of the season, hopefully develop some pitches, and clean the house…which is fearsome to behold, trust.

Here are your links, add anything worth reading in the comments and let me know what you’re getting up to yourselves.

h/t to my friend Chris whose company and technology worked on this.

Fall is here and that means layers. I’ll take some of these.

xoVain is one of my favorite beauty sites. Though some of their pieces are misses for me, I enjoy the overall tone of the site great and delightfully BS free, and the comment community is downright magnificent. But this piece, by my favorite writer of theirs, should be required reading for teenage girls. Or anyone interested in makeup, for that matter.

Interesting, interesting story.

I’ve followed this scholar for a while, but I’m always thrilled to reintroduce his delightful finds!

HELL, no.

h/t to Jessica for this trove of formerly black and white photos, which you all know I can never resist.

A frightening but helpful piece on the timeline and spread of the Ebola outbreak.

Humans are magnificent.

Intrepid friend Janssen of Everyday Reading had her first piece with Conde Nast Traveler, congratulations!

It’s odd what transcends cultural and linguistic barriers, but still pretty fascinating.

Jeff is an odd man. His culinary aspirations are modest at best, but every once in a while he gets this Big Plan to make something Truly Impressive. Irritatingly enough, it always turns out delicious. His latest scheme is this, though I’m taking bets he’ll balk.

“God” weighs in. (The quotation marks alone in this story get me.)