Stepping Stones

Images via We Heart It

I have already talked to you all about my want to write and draw on the walls and I'm still not content. I'm talking my paint brushes and chalk sticks to the stairs too. Why not add a creative streak to an often neglected and overlooked feature of your home and stencil your favourite quotes, lyrics or just a witty remark to brighten up your day. If you're anything like me the chalk paint stairs could be your ultimate daily to do list message board.

Prêt-à-Porter

I have a feeling my Autumn Winter looks are going to be heavily influenced by the style of the fashion pack and supermodels of the 1990s, namely the costume wardrobe of Prêt-à-Porter. Why? Well Linda Evangelista's fringe, Sophia Loren's hat, the glitz, the glam and the play pretend farce of fashion that we all love so much. Just make sure to listen carefully as I strut passed you'll hear Ini Kamoze's 'Here Comes the Hotstepper' playing in the breeze.

Dead School

Ever the groupie I recently headed to Dead School's gig in The Bowery Cork as the play support to The Minutes. Dead School are James McDonald (guitar/vocals), Cathal Maher (guitar/keys), Dominic Kelly (guitar) and Derek Kelly (drums). Theirs is a sound of intense passion and daring energy, a sound that takes hold of the crowd but more importantly lingers in your mind and ears long after their tour van departs. A fierce frenzy of energy and rhythm that makes your bones scream and your limbs flail in time to their heavy sound.


Dead School have announced an Academy 2 show for July 14th. Tickets are priced at €8.00 incl. Booking fee on sale from Ticketmaster or you can try your chances at winning tickets over at Oxygen.ie!

Wouldn't It Be Lovery

All I want is a room somewhere, far away from the cold night air.














Here is a moodboard for my very own make believe abode. A place of eclectic elegance and simple adornment. A haven for the wandering soul and a throve of rugged charm where rustic meets city, vintage meets modern, life meets peace and he meets me. Oh wouldn't it be loverly?

Blau x

Images via my pinterest

Black & White

I know this video is fifteen minutes long but it most definitely worth a watch. Its serves as an arresting example of Jiri Kylian's style and fully justifies his reputation as one of the most inventive and daring choreographers on today's dance world. Much of his work is  set to musical rhythms and patterns mixed in a synthesizer to produce a layered effect in some sections; the result of this a more energetic, sometimes frenzied sound that the dancers match in a very physical dance. This dance stands as a prime example of how ballet and modern dance can intertwine to creative a masterpiece of elegant and contemporary beauty. Set to a simple and  an almost tribally raw beat the choreography is both mesmerising and haunting, it's rhythm and symmetry acting as powerful and captivating forces on the audience.

Blau x

The Staves

The Staves are a three girls folk-rock band from Waltford, England and comprise of  Emily, Jessica, and Camilla Staveley-Taylor. Having grown-up in a house that echoed the sounds of Simon & Garfunkel, Crosby, Stills & Nash and The Beatles, these three sisters began singing in perfect harmony from an early age. Now they have grown into a rapturous trio with a spell-binding sound of love and longing.







Blau x

Orient Express

Trying to plan a holiday that's just a little bit different and now have my heart set on the Nostalgie Istanbul Orient Express. This train consists of 10 first-class sleeping carriages, containing private compartments with one lower or twin upper and lower beds, and a built-in washbasin with hot and cold running water. During the day, compartments are converted into comfortable salons and there are two dining carriages, shower carriage, Pullman and bar which are beautifully decorated with inlaid glass paneling. These original carriages (sleeping ones, shower, Pullman and bar) and were built in England, Belgium, France and Italy in 20s-30s and were the part of the legendary “Orient Express”. The names of Marlene Dietrich and Jean Marais, the Queen Elisabeth II of United Kingdom and H.R.H. princess Grace of Monaco, French president Charles de Gaulle and the leader of former Soviet government Nikita Khroutchev, Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, better known as Mata-Hari are in the list of passengers of the "Orient Express". On board this wonderful train I can explore and discover Northern Russia; Vologda, Arkhangelsk, Kandalaksha, Murmansk, Petrozavodsk, Novgorod, St. Petersburg and Yaroslavl.

Blau x

Image via We Heart It

Retro Prints

The darling Eliza J recently introduced me to the wonderful work of Claudia Varosio; quirky illustrated posters, paper dolls and retro prints. These prints ship worldwide from London. Here's a collection of some of my favourites;

Blau x

Versions 5; I Heard It Through The Grapevine

Which is your favourite version?
Blau x

Rhythm 10

Marina Abramović, New York-based Serbian performance artist, began her career in the early 1970s. Active for over three decades, she has recently begun to describe herself as the “grandmother of performance art.” Abramović's work explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind. Rhythm 10, 1973.

"I was not allowed to leave the house after 10 o'clock at night till I was 29 years old. All the performances in Yugoslavia I did before 10 o'clock in the evening because I had to be home then. It's completely insane, but all of my cutting myself, whipping myself, burning myself, almost losing my life in the firestar, everything was done before 10 in the evening."

In her first performance Abramović explored elements of ritual and gesture. Making use of twenty knives and two tape recorders, the artist played the Russian game in which rhythmic knife jabs are aimed between the splayed fingers of her hand. Each time she cut herself, she would pick up a new knife from the row of twenty she had set up, and record the operation. After cutting herself twenty times, she replayed the tape, listened to the sounds, and tried to repeat the same movements, attempting to replicate the mistakes, merging together past and present. She set out to explore the physical and mental limitations of the body – the pain and the sounds of the stabbing, the double sounds from the history and from the replication. With this piece, Abramović began to consider the state of consciousness of the performer. “Once you enter into the performance state you can push your body to do things you absolutely could never normally do.”

Blau x

Dead Man's Bones

The recent Ryan Gosling film fest has me reliving my crush of old; not just his dashing old looks but his musical talents too! Gosling formed the gothic gospel group 'Dead Man's Bones' with  friend Zach Shields. Their self titled debut album  is a collaboration with the Silverlake Conservatory Children’s Choir. When Shields and Gosling met in 2005 they discovered a mutual obsession with ghosts and decided to write love stories about ghosts and monsters. The pair chose to play all the instruments on the record, even those they had never touched before. They also imposed rules on themselves during the recording process, like not playing with a click track, or trying to do no more than three takes on any song, letting any imperfections highlight the strengths of the music.

Blau x

I Read Palms

Ever bemused by the art of palm reading, palmistry, chiromancy, and hand analysis I've decided to refresh my basic palm reading skills. This form of fortune telling involves the practice of evaluating a person's character or future life by "reading" the palm of that person's hand. Various lines and mounts, purportedly suggest interpretations by their relative sizes, qualities, and intersections.

A reader usually begins by reading the person's dominant hand (sometimes considered to represent the conscious mind, whereas the other hand is subconscious). In some traditions of palmistry, the other hand is believed to carry hereditary or family traits, or, depending on the palmist's cosmological beliefs, to convey information about past-life or karmic conditions. So for now the hardest part is deciding which of the many traditions to follow!

Blau x


Images via We Heart It