Tuesday 23 July 2013

Olympia International Art and Antiques Fair

So I'm slightly behind on writing about this, my guest in question blogged about it here about 3 weeks ago when we actually went. 

However, after reading an article about it in last months Tatler (which I caught up on during my holiday of doing nothing) I thought it high time to tell you readers about the event. 






The event is a full week and a half extravaganza of gorgeous collections of antiques and art for those mansions needing to be filled, I have loads of them don't you?! I wandered around with Emily deciding what would go in my library, my life ambition when I get rich is to have a home library, and other art that could be littered around the reception rooms in this delightful house I've made up for myself.











In truth, this event was not made for a poor graduate barely coping to may rent in London. It did however appeal to my age group in another aspect, FREE WINE!




Yep, not only this but the whole event was free for us thanks for the delights that are Tatler, as a subscriber they sent me free pairs of tickets attached to this was a note that a free glass of wine was offered to those attending their late night Thursday shopping event, and a couple of vouchers for a cream tea. No brainer right?





In their Malmaison area we sat down in comfy white sofas ready for a gossip. Along came two glasses of Sancerre and Chablis, Sancerre seems to be a very 'in' wine with all of the posh places I've been to, it's a pretty great wine so I get it really, also ordering it just sounds so sophisticated (this could just be me, ok it is). Then came teapots of English breakfast with warm scones ready to be filled to this brim with jam and clotted cream. I'm always a little over ambitious when filling my scones and it falls apart everywhere, what was I saying about being sophisticated here?

After mopping up my scone crumbs we wandered around. By far my favourite stand was the vintage film posters section, these weren't your standard prints there's no chance we're affording these for a while! 










It was a lovely evening, a change from sitting in a bar gossiping until you're a little too half cut needing to seriously concentrate when travelling on the tube. Olympia is a bit annoying to get to and there's not much about but they've got loads of events going on, I always forget about it and just think of the ExCel centre when looking for events like that but Olympia is a great spot for something a little more sophisticated for the day, and hey what girl can turn down free wine right?

Monday 22 July 2013

Zoo Lates

I love penguins, just putting this straight out there, they're the best animal by far. My love for them may have been strengthened by Happy Feet a little (ok a lot) but I've always loved their little waddle and their cute markings that make them look like they're in a suit. 










When Harriet approached me at work asking if I'd like a spare ticket to Zoo Lates that her friends had I grabbed it straight away already dreaming of that penguin meeting. The basic concept is for adults to go to the zoo without being called 'childish', who would be friends with those people anyway? Every Friday and Saturday night London Zoo opens late night 6-10 for an adults only zoo experience. With food vans covering the entrance and a Rekorderlig stand (their new passionfruit flavour is an absolute winner) you can run around like a little kid meeting all the zoo animals with a slightly tipsy eyesight. At 8pm the silent disco gets going, the highlight for me after the penguins obviously. 




After Harriet and I had got our faces prepared at work, thank God we work at Disney otherwise people would just find us plain weird, we headed over with everyone to enjoy an evening of animals. The tickets were bought in advance for £12.50 and because I'm so late posting this it's all sold out but keep up to date with the 2014 Zoo Lates by signing up here.

A lot of people do get dressed up but don't fret if you're coming straight from work they have masks, ears and face paints when you get there. 





We got in, I ran to the penguins and boy was it good. I could watch them waddle for hours, unfortunately none of them started tap dancing or singing Stevie Wonder, maybe that's a thing they do during the day. 











There are so many sections you can't really get bored, after refuelling on a delicious pulled pork bun we visited all of the areas we could including the gorgeous giraffes, zebras and tigers. 


When I was a young waaaarthooooggg!


















The tiger got running as soon as Harriet turned up!













We swung by the silent disco just before 9, it got seriously busy about 10 minutes later so I would recommend getting there early. I love a good silent disco, and the crowds that couldn't get in looked on in jealously listening to everybody singing along like nobody could hear. The music mix was great, they only had one channel which was a shame but there weren't too many tunes you couldn't love. By 10pm we were pooped and I ran off to meet Kirsty for a night out in Shoreditch, completely forgetting about my face paint I got a lot of funny looks and questions while we were out!



Get your tickets now, I would seriously recommend it. Just a couple of tips, bring a lot of cash, nowhere takes card and the card machine queue was huge the whole time. When buying food don't make the same mistake as me, head straight to Annie Maes, their Mac and Cheese is ridiculously good and I only noticed their stand on the way out as they packed up, I was devastated! If you do go give the penguins and wave from me!