londontown, pt. 2

photographed + filmed with fujifilm x30

A month ago today I landed in London, and I can't believe it's been that long already. It's also strange to think that this city I had never visited before felt so much like home.
It's all very cliche and sappy, but whatever. London happens. In this half of my collective, there are a lot of things happening. Let's list it:

1.  Me putting on my sunglasses in an act of Californian rebellion despite the fact that I hadn't seen proper sunlight in approx. 3 months.

2.  The Christmas Tree in the Buckingham Palace gift shop, which is the most aggressively British place I've ever been. 

3. I don't know, some random government looking building that had loads and loads of people milling about. (side note: my grandmother said it was ugly. I reminded her that none of her pretty German castles had actual monarchs in them.)

4. I genuinely have no recollection of taking this photo but I think by it's general upper-end British-ness it is probably Kensington. 

5. The statue hall at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Best offensive joke in England was heard here, as uttered by a middle aged dad-type pushing a stroller through the Mughal Empire installation: "I think it should be called the Kim Kardashian museum, as it is extremely beautiful and incredibly dim." 

6. Proper way to bond a bunch of bloggers: aesthetically pleasing pizza.

7. I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE. I don't have an arm, I appear to be getting hit by an oncoming bus that's whizzing out of nowhere, Westminster is entirely lit up. It's basically a scene from Harry Potter.

8. An actual scene from Harry Potter.

9.  Walking out of Liverpool Station is the best place to people watch because at 5pm on a Friday, the entire world is there and trying to get on your train.

10. I may forget my own name, but I will never, ever, as long as I live, forget to mind the gap.


I feel like I've seen so much, but theres far more to explore, eat, and experience, so I guess I'll just have to go back. What an absolute tragedy.

x J

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not another hairstyle

photographed with a fujifilm x30

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't mess with my hair. I've had the same haircut, in varying lengths, since the fourth grade, and the only reason I got it then was because someone accidentally chopped it off. (Long story.) One time when I was 13, I put blonde streaks in, and then this summer in a (rather disastrous, if we're being honest) burst of rebellion I dyed the bottom purple. The result was reminiscent of Kylie Jenner when she was in her "blonde-undercut" phase. Basically, I avoid doing anything drastic out of the sheer fear that I'll never get my hair back to its glory. Then, last week in London, I was wearing a leather jacket, feeling vaguely invincible, and standing in front of Not Another Salon - the Brick Lane home of world renowned colorist Sophia Hilton and her incredibly talented team. (Seriously, check them out. You'll want them to be your best friends and wish you had 500% more hair) It was the right moment.

When I am nervous about basically anything, I talk a LOT. In an attempt to cut down on the babbling, I told to Sophia to do whatever she thought would look good, and shut up. My hair was literally in her hands. From the minute the bleach hit my curls, my thoughts ran along the lines of "oh my god what if I don't like it what if it doesn't look good what if my hair snaps off what am I doing oH MY GOD". But Sophia knows what she's doing, and she has play-doh in her waiting room, (Shoutout to Ben  for coming in and making sure I played with it) so I decided to trust the process. I'm so glad I did, because my hair is now all the colors of the wind. (Okay, two, but it's an extreme for me. Chill.) 

Not Another Salon is a baby, as far as salons go, but it already has its vibe down. Listening to Sophia talk about her journey from vision to neon-lighted store front, you can tell this wasn't just an idle "oh hey, you know what'd be fun?". "I wanted a place that was fun, not cool. Not somewhere where you felt like you needed to be a certain kind of person to come in." she told me, as she streaked bright colors into my hair. I'm sorry to say that she's failed - Not Another Salon is cool. It's a really rad place, from the 1960's living room-esque waiting room, to the pots of color lined up on the counter tops, to the people that work there. Everything about it is exactly the kind of place you want to go to do something fun and different. Especially if you never ever do anything different and you think you'll need a strong cup of tea for the whole thing. Annie's GOT you. But she's also definitely spot on - I didn't feel out of place at all. There was no sort of elitism, no "look" I needed to fit. I came as I was, and left slightly more colorful.


BASICALLY, long story short, I'm now going to have to fly back across the planet to get this touched up because I really don't think anyones going to match Not Another Salon's level.

 THEY HAD PLAY DOH.

x J

ps. Not Another Salon is at 188 Brick Lane, and they seriously do it all. Make an appointment, send me a thank you card later. 


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london calling, part one

  

photographed with a fujifilm x30

You know what's cool about London? Every. Damn. Thing.

This city on the other side of the planet felt like home. The food, the people, the carefully balanced way in which all of its weirdness coexists with the posh upper class that makes up its other side.  It's just a very unique place, and I got to wander around for five days doing it all. 

Starting on Monday, I hit the Tube with a Oyster card and an Ellie (!!!). We covered all the corners from Paddington to Liverpool, stopping for everything edible, or instagrammable. This means we did not make swift progress, but we did see London from above at the Sky Garden, drown our hunger in vanilla milk at the Cereal Killer cafe, and drink Boba tea in Topshop Oxford Street. 

That was just Monday. 

x J 

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